Morphologic features and surgically induced astigmatism of femtosecond laser versus manual clear corneal incisions.

PURPOSE: To compare the morphologic features and surgically induced astigmatism (SIA) between laser and manual clear corneal incisions (CCIs) after femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery. SETTING: Eye Center, 2nd Affiliated Hospital, Medical College of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. DESIGN: Prospective case series. METHODS: Patients had femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery with a CCI created with the laser or manually after random allocation. The corrected distance visual acuity, corneal topography, and anterior segment optical coherence tomography were assessed at the 1-day, 1-week, 1-month, and 3-month follow-ups. RESULTS: The laser CCI group comprised 45 eyes and the manual CCI group, 48 eyes. The SIA was significantly lower in the manual CCI group than the laser CCI group at all visits (P < .05). At the 1-day and 1-week follow-ups, the mean CCI thickness was significantly smaller in the manual CCI group (P < .05). In the laser CCI group, the perpendicular linear distance between the external wound opening and the corneal vertex central line was statistically shorter than in the manual CCI group (P < .05). At 3 months, the SIA was correlated with the perpendicular linear distance with a Pearson correlation coefficient of -0.341 (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Femtosecond laser-created CCIs for cataract surgery caused more SIA than manually created CCIs, which could have resulted from inaccurate or uncertain corneal incision positioning of the femtosecond machine. Manual creation of CCIs is recommended in femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery until the locating system for the femtosecond laser incision is updated.

Alcohol consumption and dry eye syndrome: a Meta-analysis.

AIM: To quantify the association between alcohol consumption and dry eye syndrome (DES) with Meta-analysis of published case-control and cross-sectional studies. METHODS: Three databases were screened for potentially eligible studies through Nov. 30, 2015, PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library. Odds ratios (ORs) were pooled with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to evaluate the relationship between alcohol consumption and DES risk. Subgroup analyses were performed according to diagnostic criteria, publication year, sample size, alcohol intake and adjusted factors. RESULTS: A total of 10 (9 case-control and 1 cross-sectional) studies from 8 articles were included in this Meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that alcohol consumption would significantly increase the risk of DES (OR 1.15, 95% CI: 1.02-1.30), and the results were independent of smoking, hypertension, diabetes and thyroid disease history. And the results of subgroup analyses indicated an increased incidence of DES diagnosed by typical DES symptoms and positive objective tests together (OR 1.18, 95% CI: 1.01-1.39) among drinkers, but not by typical DES symptoms alone (OR 1.11, 95% CI: 0.94-1.32). What's more, any drinkers were at higher risk of suffering from DES (OR 1.33, 95% CI: 1.31-1.34), while heavy drinkers not (OR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.86-1.18). CONCLUSION: The present Meta-analysis suggests that alcohol consumption may be a significant risk factor for DES. Alcohol-induced peripheral neuropathymay falsely reduce the prevalence of DES among heavy drinkers. Future prospective studies of alcohol consumption and DES risk are needed to confirm our results.