Refractive keratoplasty for disabling astigmatism after penetrating keratoplasty
D. L. McCartney, C. E. Whitney, W. J. Stark, S. K. Wong and D. A. Bernitsky
Postoperative astigmatism is one of the major limitations of penetrating
keratoplasty. In an attempt to reduce postkeratoplasty astigmatism, we
combined corneal-relaxing incisions with orthogonal compression sutures,
guided by the intraoperative use of a ring keratometer. Eleven consecutive
patients from a mixed referral population with functionally disabling
astigmatism were studied. The average preoperative keratometric cylinder of
11.68 diopters was reduced by 7.95 (+/- 3.03 SD) diopters. Each patient's
net keratometric cylinder was reduced. We believe that this technique is
safer and more predictable than previously published techniques.
