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Central corneal thickness changes after phacoemulsification cataract surgery
Sachin M Salvi1, Terrence K Soong, Balakrishna V Kumar
1Department of Ophthalmology, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, United Kingdom. drsachin@doctors.org.uk
Purpose:
To evaluate changes occurring in central corneal thickness (CCT) immediately after uneventful cataract surgery.
Methods:
Thirteen consecutive patients who had uneventful phacoemulsification surgery by the same experienced surgeon were prospectively evaluated for CCT measurements 1 hour preoperatively and 1 hour, 1 day, and 1 week postoperatively. The unoperated eye also had CCT measurements simultaneously on all occasions and served as a control. All patients provided informed consent.
Setting:
Department of Ophthalmology, Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Llantrisant, UK RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 69 years. Central corneal thickness was 550.34 microm preoperatively, 626.39 microm at 1 hour, 585.80 microm at 1 day, and 553.80 microm at 1 week. In the control group, CCT remained stable, within +/-2 microm of preoperative readings.
Conclusions:
Central corneal thickness increased by approximately 13.81% in the immediate postoperative period (at 1 hour). It remained increased by 6.44% on day 1 compared with preoperative values and gradually reduced to preoperative levels by the 1-week postoperative period (0.57% difference). Intraocular pressure (IOP) measured postoperatively in the first week may be falsely elevated to some extent because of the increased corneal thickness in the immediate postoperative period; thus, not all IOP rises have be treated in this period in healthy uncompromised eyes.