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Published on: September 16, 2025
[Intra- and interindividual comparison of corneal refraction measured by IOL-Master vs. corneal topography]
A Cucera1, G K Lang, H-J Buchwald
1Augenklinik, Universitätsklinikum Ulm. anna.cucera@uniklinik-ulm.de
Background:
Especially for the implantation of toric intraocular lenses an exact regulation of the corneal astigmatism is important.
Patients And Methods:
60 eyes of 30 subjects with astigmatism were examined in a period of one year. The corneal refraction was measured at three different times, each examination was repeated three times, both with the IOL-Master (Fa. Zeiss, Jena) and a corneal topograph (CSO Eye Top). The results were compared intra- and interindividually. Eyes with conjunctival or corneal inflammation, dry eye syndrome or malformation of the eyelid were excluded. Data were statistically evaluated.
Results:
Both the amount and the axis of corneal astigmatism were significantly different for the two devices (IOL-Master and corneal topography). Intraindividually, the mean astigmatism was 1.18 D measured by the IOL-Master (median 1.0 D) and 1.07 D measured by corneal topography (median 0.88 D). This results in a dispersion about the median of 0.54% by the IOL-Master and of 0.32% by corneal topography. Intraindividually, the mean axis of astigmatism was 73 degrees measured by the IOL-Master (median 103 degrees) and 90 degrees measured by corneal topography (median 104 degrees). The dispersion about the median of axis values was 0.55% by the IOL-Master and 0.28% by corneal topography. Use of the Wilcoxon test results in a dispersion of values of less than 2% probability value for both the amount and the axis of corneal astigmatism (p < 0.1).
Conclusions:
Values measured by the IOL-Master show a wider distribution than values measured by corneal topography. The statistical spread was significant, although it was less than 3% for both intra- and interindividual measurements by the two devices. Although the median is almost equal for measurements by the IOL-Master and corneal topography, dispersion about the median is almost twice as high for intraindividual measurements by the IOL-Master. Therefore, the accuracy of measurements conducted with corneal topography is significantly higher as compared to the IOL-Master.
