ASTIGMATISM AGAINST-THE-RULE AFTER SMALL-INCISION CATARACT-EXTRACTION - A MULTIFACTORIAL, MULTIVARIATE STUDY

Background Small-incision cataract surgery has been further developed by the introduction of the sutureless technique. This procedure has reduced operation time and the surgically induced astigmatism compared to closure technique. Patients and methods We evaluated 426 patients operated by the same surgeon using the same intraoperativ approach. Patients were monitored for postoperative induced astigmatism and postoperative complications. Results Our resultats demonstrated small induced astigmatism after one week and one month. The no-stitch technique showed the smallest postoperative astigmatism with the least variation. With multivariat methods we also analysed several factors influencing the axis of the induced astigmatism. Conclusion The most important factor for a postoperative astigmatism against the rule is using the no-stitch-technique and the existence of a preoperative astigmatism against the rule.