The correlation of corneal refractive power, axial length, and the refractive power of the emmetropizing intraocular lens in cataractous eyes.

Ultrasound biometry was done for 400 cases of cataract. The posterior-chamber lens power was found to be 18.2 +/- 4.26 D; the corneal refractive power, 43.78 +/- 1.86 D; and the axial length of the globe, 23.57 +/- 1.57 mm. The correlation between the refractive power of the cornea and the axial length shows the following physiological mechanism: (1) in hypermetropia an increase in corneal refractive power occurs in parallel with an increase in axial length; (b) in myopia an increase in axial length is compensated by a decrease in corneal refractive power, with both of the aforementioned conditions aiming at achieving emmetropia; and (c) patients with axial myopia either react in the form of condition b (state of compensation) or show an increase in corneal refractive power in association with an increase in axial length (state of decompensation).