Refractive complications of cataract surgery after radial keratotomy

Four patients underwent cataract extraction with posterior chamber lens implantation several years after radial keratotomy. All four patients experienced an initial hyperopic shift caused by an early postoperative corneal flattening of greater than or equal to 1 diopter. This flattening partially regressed, leaving the patients with a mean of 0.42 diopter of persistent corneal flattening. We found the Binkhorst and the Holladay intraocular lens calculation formulas to be more accurate than the SRK II for these patients. Corneal curvature measured with the keratometer was less accurate for intraocular lens calculations than was a value derived by subtracting the refractive change induced by the radial keratotomy from the patients' keratometric measurements obtained before radial keratotomy.