Changes in Astigmatism after Suture Removal in Penetrating Keratoplasty.

Kim, Ki Eon; Joo, Choun Ki

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 2003;44(2):284-288.
Published online February 1, 2003.

Changes in Astigmatism after Suture Removal in Penetrating Keratoplasty.

¹Department of Ophthalmology, St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea. ckjoo@cmc.cuk.ac.kr
²Department of Ophthalmology, Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea.

전층각막이식에서 봉합사 제거 후 나타나는 각막난시의 변화

김기언 ( Ki Eon Kim ) , 주천기 ( Choun Ki Joo )

Abstract

PURPOSE
To study a refractive change after suture removal and to evaluate some factors for this change in penetrating keratoplasty. METHODS: We studied 53 eyes of 47 patients who had undergone penetrating keratoplasty. Subjective refraction and best corrected visual acuity were measured in all eyes before and after the removal of sutures. We also classified the subject eyes based on suture removal time, degree of astigmatism before suture removal, recipient trephine size and compared the change of astigmatism within the groups. RESULTS: Suture removal decreased the astigmatism by an average of 0.81 diopter (D) (p=0.02) and increased the best corrected visual acuity by an average of 0.17 (p=0.005). These results show that corneal astigmatism tends to decrease more with early suture removal (p=0.010), higher degree of astigmatism before suture removal (p<0.05) and smaller size of recipient trephine (p=0.014). CONCLUSIONS: The removal of entire suture after penetrating keratoplasty decreases corneal astigmatism. Furthermore, the outcome is influenced by suture removal time, degree of astigmatism before suture removal, and recipient trephine size.

Key Words: Astigmatism;Penetrating keratoplasty;Suture removal