title: The correlation between incision size and corneal shape changes in sutureless cataract surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the correlation between incision size and corneal shape changes in sutureless surgery using corneal topography.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred eyes undergoing sutureless cataract surgery were assigned randomly to three groups according to the incision size: group A, 3.2-mm incision; group B, 4.0-mm incision; and group C, 5.0-mm incision. All eyes were examined by corneal topography preoperatively as well as at 1 week and at 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the average of difference maps of eyes in the 3.2-mm incision group, a wound-related flattening in the peripheral cornea occurred 1 week after surgery, but decreased rapidly thereafter. Subsequently, no significant changes were observed in the cornea after 1 month. In the 4.0-mm incision group, with a reduction of the wound-related peripheral flattening, an irregular steepening appeared in the lower central cornea 6 months after surgery. In the 5.0-mm incision group, a similar steepening in the lower cornea occurred just after surgery. This steepening persisted and even extended to the upper central cornea in its later postoperative periods.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 3.2-mm incision hardly produced any irreversible corneal shape changes, whereas both the 4.0- and 5.0-mm incisions caused a persistent irregular steepening in the central cornea.
authors.affiliation: Hayashi Eye Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hayashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001251:Astigmatism / Q000209:etiology; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000379:methods*; D003315:Cornea / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007910:Lenses, Intraocular; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D013536:Suture Techniques; D014945:Wound Healing