Central corneal thickness increases in aphakic eyes after congenital cataract surgery

J Cataract Refract Surg. 2010;36(12):2041-2047.

Central corneal thickness increased significantly in aphakic eyes after removal of congenital cataracts, a study found. IOL implantation appeared to forestall such an increase.

Increased central corneal thickness (CCT) may elevate tonometry readings and lead to spurious diagnoses of aphakic glaucoma.

"IOP measurement is the most important factor in the diagnosis of glaucoma in children," the study authors said. "Therefore, increased corneal thickness in aphakic eyes after cataract extraction and its effect on IOP measurement must be kept in mind."

The prospective study included 32 pseudophakic eyes of 21 patients and 15 aphakic eyes of nine patients. An age-matched control group comprised 51 normal eyes of 26 patients.

Eyes with congenital cataract underwent anterior lensectomy and anterior vitrectomy.

Mean baseline CCT was 540 µm in pseudophakic eyes, 548 µm in aphakic eyes and 558 µm in control eyes. The between-group differences were insignificant.

Aphakic eyes had mean CCT of 587 µm at 1 month after surgery and 602 µm at 6 months. Pseudophakic eyes had mean CCT of 539 ?m at 1 month and 540 µm at 6 months. Between-group differences were statistically significant at both follow-up points (P = .018 and P = .012, respectively).

Aphakic and pseudophakic eyes had similar IOP readings preoperatively and at 6 months postoperatively, the authors said.