[Pre- and postoperative corneal topography after combined single suture and running suture in ECCE. An analysis using...

In a prospective study with 45 patients undergoing extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) with implantation of posterior chamber lens, curvature measurements of the cornea by means of computerized videokeratoscope were taken postoperatively. Analysis of the corneal shape on color-coded topographic maps of astigmatism showed an hourglass-shaped formation in all patients with a main axis in the sense of general astigmatism. Within a 3-mm zone (optical zone) the steepest meridian in all eyes was 96.1 +/- 13.3 degrees with an astigmatism of +4.4 +/- 2.1 D (1st postoperative day). Postoperatively we found that 35.6% of the patients examined had irregular astigmatism that could not be corroborated by the readings from the Javal ophthalmometer. An irregular astigmatism, corneal topographic analysis reveals regions peripheral to the center with a peak corneal refractive power of +43.8 +/- 1.4 D. In contrast to the conventional methods (for example, Javal ophthalmometer, autokeratometer), computerized videokeratoscope analysis provides additional and useful information on the corneal topography after intraocular operations.