Purpose: To analyse the early surgically induced corneal astigmatism (SICA) with a 3.5 mm oblique clear corneal incision (CCI) for phacoemulsification and flexible silicone implant.
Methods: Sixty-four consecutive patients were included in this study. The keratometry readings were recorded on the day prior to surgery, the first day post-operatively and at 6 weeks. The SICA was evaluated according to four different methods: (i) simple subtraction, (ii) vector analysis, (iii) vector decomposition and (iv) Naeser polar values.
Results: At 6 weeks post-operatively the SICA was equally divided between with-the-rule (WTR) and against-the-rule (ATR) astigmatism, according to the vector analysis in combination with vector decomposition. Both the simple subtraction method and Naeser polar values were misleading.
Conclusion: The oblique clear corneal section for phacoemulsification is a comfortable and safe incision with a predictable and acceptable degree of SICA that may be better tolerated than that induced by superior incision.