The effect of the incision in cataract extraction on corneal astigmatism

Postoperative corneal astigmatism has been studied in 130 eyes after cryoextraction of senile cataract depending in the cataractous incision: perpendicular, step-shaped alone, step-shaped with additional scleral "cap peak", 5 x 3 mm. On discharge, most frequently (in 75% of cases) a direct kind of corneal astigmatism was observed. Astigmatism invariably decreased and became stable after 4--7 months, direct astigmatism became rarer (44%), but the number of eyes with reversed astigmatism increased (40%). The lowest degree of corneal astigmatism (1.8 +/- 16D) and consequently the highest surgical visual outcomes were recorded after a step-shaped incision.