Effect of cataract incision type on corneal spherical aberration

Corneal spherical aberration (CSA) plays an important role in the ocular refractive system. However, ophthalmologists have not considered the effect of difference cataract incisions on it. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of transparent corneal incision (TCI) and scleral tunnel incision (STI) on CSA after the cataract phacoemulsification with foldable IOLs. One hundred ninety-three eyes (61 males and 79 females) for 1-month observation and 114 eyes (29 males and 51 females) for 3-month observation with age-related cataracts (ARC) were included in this study. CSA was measured with dilated pupil by Pentacam Scheimpflug system at 1 day preoperative and 1, 3-month postoperative. Preoperative CSA >1.00 μm was excluded. Both TCI and STI are 3 mm incisions with Infiniti system and Ozil handpiece. No significant difference of age or gender was found between TCI and STI groups in 1 or 3-month observation. In 1-month observation, preoperative CSA for TCI and STI are 0.31 ± 0.29 and 0.41 ± 0.19 μm, which of postoperative are 0.42 ± 0.17 and 0.44 ± 0.35 μm, respectively. The change of CSA is 0.11 ± 0.32 and 0.04 ± 0.33 μm (P = .233). For 3-month observation, preoperative CSA for TCI and STI are 0.32 ± 0.28 and 0.36 ± 0.23 μm, which of postoperative are 0.43 ± 0.16 and 0.39 ± 0.26 μm, respectively. The change of CSA is 0.10 ± 0.34 and 0.03 ± 0.21 μm (P = .312). For the phacoemulsification combined with foldable IOL implantation, STI has minimal effect on CSA, but TCI might increase postoperative CSA.