title: Long-term change in corneal astigmatism after sutureless cataract surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare long-term change in corneal astigmatism with advancing age between eyes that underwent sutureless cataract surgery and those that did not undergo surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case-control study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 153 eyes that underwent phacoemulsification with a horizontal incision more than 11 years ago (surgery group) and 153 age-matched control eyes that did not undergo surgery (nonsurgery group) were enrolled. The keratometric cylinder at baseline (at 1 year or more postoperatively in the surgery group) and at 5 and 10 years after baseline was examined. The corneal astigmatic change, as calculated using polar value analysis and vector decomposition analysis, between baseline and 5 years after baseline and between 5 and 10 years was compared between the groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean corneal astigmatic change, specifically ΔKP (90) in the polar analysis and against-the-rule component in the vector analysis, between baseline and 5 years and between 5 and 10 years showed an against-the-rule change in both groups. Using multivariate analysis, no significant difference was found in the corneal astigmatic change between the 2 groups at either time interval (P ≥ .126). Furthermore, the change between baseline and 5 years was similar to that between 5 and 10 years in both groups (P ≥ .315).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Corneal astigmatism after sutureless cataract surgery shows a long-term against-the-rule change with advancing age, and this change is similar to that of normal cornea, suggesting that the against-the-rule change that occurs subsequently should be taken into consideration at the time of cataract surgery.
authors.affiliation: Hayashi Eye Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan. hayashi-ken@hayashi.or.jp
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Shin-Ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manabe
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hayashi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001251:Astigmatism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003315:Cornea / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular; D008297:Male; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; D018918:Phacoemulsification; D011184:Postoperative Period