Toric intraocular lens in asymmetric astigmatism.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to report our results of toric intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in patients with asymmetric astigmatism, its efficacy and safety in reducing the refractive cylinder.

METHODS

This is a retrospective cohort study. Patients with asymmetric astigmatism and non-progressive corneal ectasia, unable to fit hard contact lenses, with poor-corrected visual acuity or unsatisfactory spectacles-corrected visual acuity, underwent cataract surgery with toric IOL implantation. The choice of lens was individually after optical biometry examination. All surgeries were performed by a single surgeon, with a 2.75-mm clear cornea self-sealing incision at 130° axis, from December 2008 to December 2015.

RESULTS

We evaluated 88 eyes of 69 patients with asymmetric astigmatism: primary, secondary to leucoma, post-radial keratectomy, post-lamellar or penetrating keratoplasty, post-LASIK, post-PRK and due to pterygium. Snellen best-corrected spectacles visual acuity increased from 0.39 ± 0.23 preoperative to 0.80 ± 0.23 postoperative. The average refractive cylinder reduced from 2.32 ± 1.78 D preoperatively to 0.87 ± 1.09 D after surgery (P < .001). Sixty-three eyes out of 88 (71%) had residual refractive cylinder ≤ 1.0 D.

CONCLUSION

The favorable efficacy on visual acuity outcomes we have found suggests that toric IOL can be used in cases of asymmetric astigmatism, in order to provide better-corrected vision, less spectacles dependence and an improved quality of vision overall, which is especially important in contact lenses intolerant patients.