title: Topography-guided excimer laser ablation of irregular cornea resulting from penetrating injury.
abstract: A 26-year-old woman with irregular astigmatism caused by ocular perforation became aphakic in the injured left eye 2 years after the initial trauma. The initial corneoscleral wound repair was performed without intraocular lens implantation. The patient's uncorrected visual acuity in the right eye was 20/20 and in the left eye, counting fingers at 50 cm. The vision in the left eye could not be corrected with a spectacle because of high corneal astigmatism so a rigid gas-permeable contact lens was tried. With a contact lens, the acuity improved to 20/80; however, the patient could not wear the lens because of intolerance and severe astigmatism. As an alternative, topography-guided ablation was performed to correct the corneal astigmatism. Treatment of the irregular central cornea reduced the astigmatism. Three months postoperatively, the corrected visual acuity was 20/20 with a refraction of +8.00 -1.50 x 26. This case indicates that topography-guided ablation can be a useful surgical method for correcting surgically induced irregular astigmatism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje University Medical College, 2240 Dae Wha-dong, Ilsan-ku, Koyang, Kyunggyi-do, 411-410, Korea. eyedr@netian.com
authors.forename: Do-Hyung
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Se Jung
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Soo-Cheol
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Shin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001251:Astigmatism / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D003315:Cornea / Q000601:surgery*; D065306:Corneal Injuries; D019781:Corneal Topography / Q000379:methods*; D015807:Eye Injuries, Penetrating / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D054018:Lasers, Excimer; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular; D018903:Photorefractive Keratectomy / Q000379:methods*; D012029:Refraction, Ocular; D014792:Visual Acuity