Visual acuity, residual astigmatism, and graft clarity following penetrating keratoplasty for keratoconus.

In summary, these finding show us several things. First, we know that with surgery keratoconus patients can be rehabilitated to achieve excellent vision. A postoperative average visual acuity of 20/20 after an average preoperative visual acuity of 20/500 is a most positive outcome. Secondly, the average amount of postoperative astigmatism of 3.5 diopters shows that even after totally removing a corneal button and replacing it with 360 degrees of sutures we can still achieve a relatively small amount of residual astigmatism and a relatively spherical cornea. Thirdly, with the exception of one primary donor failure, a total of one hundred percent clear grafts, even after the occurrence of two graft rejection episodes, indicated an extremely high success rate of keratoplasty in keratoconus.