The Changes of Astigmatism Following Horizontal Strabismus Surgery

ABSTRACT

The visual acuity changes following strabismus surgery are generally short-lived and tend to disappear with time. However, some cases of persistent decreased vision is considered to be caused by changes of corneal curvature following strabismus surgery, resulting in increased corneal astigmatism. To investigate the amount and frequency of corneal astigmatiy changes following horizontal strabismus surgery, the authors periodically examined pre-and postoperative corneal curvature using keratometer in 56 eyes of 34 patients who had undergone horizontal strabismus surgery from March, 1987 to February, 1989 at Gyeongsang National University Hospital and Masan Koryo General Hospital. An average of 0.41D in horizontal curvature and an average of 0.05D in vertical curvature was decreased at 8 weeks after operation. The changes of +0.5D or more were present in 53.6% in horizontal curvature and 42.9% in vertical curvature. In comparison of one muscle operation with two muscle operation in one eye, both horizontal and vertical curvature showed no significant changes statistically(p>0.05).