LIMBAL RELAXING INCISIONS WITH CATARACT-SURGERY

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of limbal relaxing incisions (L RIs) for correcting corneal astigmatism during cataract surgery. Setti ng: Cullen Eye Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. Methods: In 12 eyes of 11 patients, cataract surgery was combined with LRIs. The LRIs were ma de according to a modified Gills nomogram and were based on preoperati ve corneal astigmatism determined with standard keratometry and comput erized videokeratography (EyeSys Corneal Analysis System(TM) Version 3 .2). Results: The mean preoperative keratometric cylinder was 2.46 +/- 0.81 diopters (D). At 1 month postoperatively, mean arithmetic reduct ion in keratometric cylinder was 1.12 +/- 0.74 D, and the with-the-wou nd (WTW) change (calculated by Holladay, Cravy, Koch vector analysis f ormula) was -0.70 +/- 0.44. from 1 day to 1 month postoperatively, the re was 0.55 D of WTW regression with minimal change in the 1 mean cyli ndrical axis. There were no overcorrections. Conclusion: Limbal relaxi ng incisions are a practical, simple, and forgiving approach to the co rrection of astigmatism during cataract surgery.