Purpose: To demonstrate the time-dependent changes in corneal aberrations after cataract surgery and to analyze the effects of incision location on corneal aberrations.
Methods: The patients were divided into two groups: group 1 consisted of patients (32 right eyes) who underwent corneal incision at 9 o'clock and paracentesis incision at 3 o'clock; group 2 consisted of patients (30 left eyes) who underwent corneal incision at 3 o'clock and paracentesis incision at 6 o'clock. Corneal high-order aberrations were measured before surgery and 1 day, 3 days, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months after surgery. The changes in corneal aberrations were compared between the two groups. The modulation transfer function and the Strehl ratio were also measured to evaluate visual function after surgery.
Results: Corneal aberrations on the anterior surface were less affected by cataract surgery than those on the posterior surface, which changed almost in parallel with the total corneal surface aberrations over time. Total higher-order aberrations on the posterior and total corneal surfaces increased significantly at 1 day after surgery compared with the baseline values (p = 0.005 and p < 0.001, respectively, for group 1; p = 0.004 and 0.038, respectively, for group 2) but gradually returned to the baseline by 2 months after surgery (p > 0.05 for both groups). The changes in horizontal coma were in different directions for the two groups. Statistically significant differences were observed in the changes of fourth-order aberrations (p = 0.045) and horizontal coma (p < 0.001) in the posterior corneal surface between the two groups. No statistically significant differences were found for either the modulation transfer function or the Strehl ratio between the two groups.
Conclusions: After cataract surgery, changes in corneal aberrations occurred mainly on the posterior surface. The location of the corneal incisions affected the changes in corneal aberrations but did not significantly affect the long-term visual quality.