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Central corneal thickness increased after congenital cataract surgery
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Central corneal thickness is greater in young patients after congenital cataract surgery than in age-matched controls, a study found. This difference can have an important effect on the interpretation of IOP measurement in these patients, the study authors note.
Tully Sisk, MD, and colleagues at the Locular Teaching and Research Eye Hospital in Ankara, Turkey, measured the central corneal thickness of 43 eyes after surgery for congenital cataract. Thirty-three children were left aphakic, and 10 had IOLs implanted. The mean age at the time of lensectomy was 24 months. Measurements in these patients were compared to a control group of 44 eyes of 44 healthy, age- and sex-matched children.
Central corneal thickness averaged 626 µm in the aphakic and pseudophakic children, significantly higher than the mean of 556 µm in the control group (P < .05). There was also a significant difference in thickness between aphakic eyes and pseudophakic eyes that had received an IOL at the time of cataract removal (P = .011). No significant difference was seen between aphakic eyes and eyes implanted with an IOL secondarily, according to the study.
Surgeons should consider these findings when interpreting IOP measurements in congenital cataract patients, the authors noted.
The study is published in the September issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology.