Effect of incision parallel to corneal astigmatism axis on corneal astigmatism in phacoemulsification

Objective To investigate whether an incision parallel to corneal astigmatism axis of 3.2mm could reduce corneal astigmatism in phacoemulsification.Methods 313 eyes with age-related cataract were phacoemulsified with an incision parallel to corneal astigmatism axis.The degree of corneal astigmatism were recorded before the procedure and one week and three months after the procedure and then processed by SPSS.Results Postoperative corneal astigmatism had an average of 0.019 D reduction as compared with the baselines in 313 eyes,with a statistical significance (t =3.027,P=0.003).But 102 eyes with relatively lower degree of preoperative corneal astigmatism (＜ 0.5 D) showed no statistical significance (t =1.225,P =0.223).Conclu-sions An incision parallel to corneal astigmatism axis of 3.2 mm in phacoemulsification can reduce corneal astigmatism.But there is no statistical significance if the degree of preoperative astigmatism is relatively lower. Key words: Phacoemulsification;  Astigmatism;  Corneal curvature ;  Cataract