RASTERSTEREOGRAPHY-BASED CLASSIFICATION OF NORMAL CORNEAS

Purpose: To attempt to classify the topographic patterns identified by rasterstereography in a population with normal corneas. Setting: Tula ne Medical Center Clinic, New Orleans, Louisiana. Methods: Corneal ele vation pictures of 100 eyes of 50 volunteers were taken using the PAR Corneal Topography System(TM). The Volunteers had no history of eye in jury, disease, or surgery, and none wore contact tenses. Three observe rs independently assigned the images to one of five subgroups. Results : Five categories were identified: unclassified, regular ridge, irregu lar ridge, incomplete ridge, and island. There were significant statis tical differences in the degree of astigmatism between the irregular r idge and incomplete ridge groups (P = .0419) and between the irregular ridge and island groups (P = .017). Conclusion: The topographic patte rns identified by rasterstereography in normal corneas can be classifi ed into five distinct groups.