Impact on corneal astigmatism following phacoemulsification surgery from temporal approach

Objectives: To study the change of corneal astigmatism in patients who had a cataract surgery using a temporal approach and the distribution of corneal astigmatism reference to the axis and magnitude.

Methodology: Retrospective analysis of the records of 2700 patients who underwent phacoemulsification surgery at Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital during the period of May 2011 to May 2019. Pre-operative and one-month postoperative astigmatism obtained using keratometry values.

Results: Study population consisted of 2700 patients. Age ranging from 17 years to 94 years. 38% patients were male, and 62% patients were female. Mean preoperative astigmatism calculated was 0.86D. In which 63% of patients had against the rule astigmatism. Mean post-operative astigmatism obtained was 0.84D. Results shows overall reduction in post-operative astigmatism compared to pre-operative by 0.02D though this amount is not statistically significant. However, subgroup analysis of against the rule astigmatism category showed statistically and clinically significant reduction in corneal astigmatism.

Conclusion: Phacoemulsification using temporal approach reduce or maintains the pre-existing astigmatism. Specially for patients having against the rule astigmatism.