J Korean Ophthalmol Soc.  1995 Jul;36(7):1221-1227.

The Changes of Refractive Error and Corneal Astigmatism after Horizontal Strabismus Surgery

• Lee JH
• Choi DG

Abstract

We performed a prospective study of evaluating preoperative and postoperative refractive error and corneal curvature in cycloplegic refraction and keratometry in 25 eyes of 25 patients undergoing horizontal recession and resection procedure. At 4 months after operation, the change of refractive error by cycloplegic refraction was +0.12D in average in horizontal meridian, which was a significant shift toward 'with-the-rule astigmatism' direction(p<0.05), whereas there was little change in vertical meridian(p>0.05). In horizontal meridian, the with-the-rule astigmatic changes of +0.5D or more were present in 7 eyes(28%) and the against-the-rule astigmatic changes of -0.5D or more were present only in 2 eyes(8%). In vertical meridian, we found that 3 eyes(12%) had the changes of +0.5D or more and 6 eyes(24%) had the changes of -0.5D or more. The change of corneal curvature in keratometry amounted to average -0.50D in horizontal meridian(that means the flattening of cornea)(p<0.05) and 0.19D in vertical meridian (that means the steepening of cornea) (p>0.05) at postoperative 4 months, showing the results similar to those of cycloplegic refraction. Futhermore, the astigmatic change by cycloplegic refraction and keratometry at postoperative 2 weeks and 1 month were similar to those at postoperative 4 months. These data suggest that there may be significant changes in astigmatism(more commonly in with-the-rule astigmatism) after strabismus surgery, and this astigmatic change appears due to the corneal change resulting from the variation in the force that the muscles exert on the globe.

Keyword

Cycloplegic refraction; Horizontal recession-resection procedure; Keratometry; With-the-rule astigmatism

MeSH Terms

Astigmatism*
Humans
Muscles
Prospective Studies
Refractive Errors*
Strabismus*