Comparative study of visual acuity and astigmatism determination between small incision cataract surgery and phacoemulsification by corneal topography

Abstract

Background: Among adults as cataract being the most common cause of the correctable diminution of vision. There is 12.5 million blind, in India and blindness due to cataract is estimated to be 50% to 80%. Due to cataract, an additional 3.8 million become blind each year in addition to backlog against which cataract surgeries are done every year are 2.7 million. Two main approaches are there for cataract extraction 1)manual small incision cataract extraction. 2)phacoemulsification. Corneal astigmatism is a type of refractive error where point focus is not formed leading to unequal refraction. This plays an important role in compliance with post-cataract extraction surgery. Since the cornea is responsible for 70% of eyes refractive power, its examination by corneal topography is of clinical importance in determining the quality of vision. Objectives: 1) To study visual acuity changes between sics and phacoemulsification, 2) To study mean astigmatism between phacoemulsification and SICS.3)To estimate the net induced astigmatism and its association with refraction between SICS and phacoemulsification. Methods: A observational interventional study with 120 patients will be conducted in a hospital based setting utilizing the data of patients eye. Preoperative visual acuity, astigmatism and postoperative visual acuity and corneal astigmatism are compared in two groups. Expected Results: As compared to other studies present we expect to find to have a better visual outcome, the reduction is astigmatism by 6 weeks and less surgically induced astigmatism in the phacoemulsification group than Sics.