Posters

Management of high corneal astigmatism after cataract surgery in Greece in the years of economic crisis

Poster Details

First Author: P. Kalouda GREECE

Co Author(s):    E. Kanonidou                    

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To present the management of a case with unilateral high corneal astigmatism which remained after cataract surgery, combined with peripheral corneal relaxing incision placement.

Setting:

Department of Ophthalmology, ‘’Hippokrateion’’ General Hospital of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Methods:

A 71-year old female with high unilateral corneal astigmatism (OD) and low vision due to bilateral cataract was scheduled for OD cataract surgery combined with corneal relaxing incision.After surgery, there were problems in vision function and quality of life, which were demonstrated by a low score at the VF-14 questionnaire (58%) and a cataract surgery to the fellow eye (OS) was considered as an option.

Results:

Initially,OD refractometry was:+3.50sph-9.50cylx15°.During the cataract surgery, a conventional IOL was used (+21.5 Dpt) because a toric IOL supply was not covered by the health insurance.The surgery was combined with a peripheral corneal relaxing incision placement in the steep meridian of corneal cylinder (105°) with poor results for the correction of astigmatism (post-op OD refractometry:+2.00sph-7.00cylx15°).The patient complained for poor vision outcome and a cataract surgery of the fellow eye was performed. Final VA was OD:8/10cc (refractive correction:+2.00sph-6.00cylx15°),OS:7/10cc (-0.50cylx45°).Significant improvement in the VF-14 score (76%) was reported after the cataract surgery of the fellow eye.

Conclusions:

Each patient’s management is a challenging procedure, especially in situations where all the possible options cannot be implemented.During cataract surgery, corneal astigmatism can be corrected by toric IOL implantation (for a range of 1-4.5 astigmatic Dpt), corneal or limbal relaxing incisions (for up to 3 astigmatic Dpt) or a combination of the two (up to 7 astigmatic Dpt). In our case, the cataract surgery of the fellow eye led to a satisfactory bilateral vision outcome.

Financial Disclosure:

NONE