[Astigmatism after cataract surgery].

PURPOSE: To evaluate postoperative astigmatism after cataract surgery.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

The studied group consist of 135 patients subjected to cataract surgery; 75 patients (75 eyes) had extracapsular cataract extraction with 12 mm corneoscleral incision (group I); 30 patients (30 eyes) had phacoemulsification with 3.5 mm corneal incision (group II); 30 patients (30 eyes) had phacoemulsification with 3.5 mm tunnel incision (group III). Astigmatism was measured on the 6th day and 2 years after surgery.

RESULTS

Mean astigmatism on the 6th postoperative day was 4, 19 D (SD = 1.20) for group I, 2.50 D (SD = 0.47) for group II and 1.79 D (SD = 0.61) for group III. The differences between all the groups were statistically significant. The astigmatism assessed 2 years after surgery returned to preoperative values and there was statistic difference only between group I and III.

CONCLUSION

Two years after cataract surgery astigmatism is comparable with the preoperative values irrespective of the operation technique.