ASTIGMATISM AFTER PHACOEMULSIFICATION WITH POSTERIOR CHAMBER LENS IMPLANTATION - SMALL-INCISION TECHNIQUE WITH FIBRIN ADHESIVE FOR WOUND CLOSURE

The scleral pocket technique has dramatically changed wound closure af ter phacoemulsification with implantation of a posterior chamber lens. The use of single-stitch technique and wound closure by fibrin adhesi ve is now possible. We conducted a comparative study of 385 consecutiv e patients; 167 received only fibrin glue for wound closure and 218 ha d the single-stitch procedure. No complications were observed in eithe r group. Surgically induced astigmatism was smaller in the fibrin grou p (vector analysis: 0.80 diopters [D]) than in the single-stitch group (vector analysis: 0.99 D). Minimal, statistically insignificant diffe rent against-the-rule astigmatism developed: single-stitch group: -0.0 7 D (Cravy), -0.09 D (Naeser); fibrin adhesive group: -0.13 D (Cravy), -0.17 D (Naeser). These results suggest that postoperative against-th e-rule astigmatism can be prevented with fibrin glue.