Corneal astigmatism in leprosy and its importancefor cataract surgery

摘要

Background: In leprosy, the eyes are frequently affected and many patients werefound to have a higher degree of corneal astigmatism than expected during theirroutine cataract work up.Aim: To compare pre-existing (before any surgical intervention) cornealastigmatism in leprosy patients as compared to age-matched normal controls.Methods: A retrospective study was done, using the charts of leprosy patients andage-matched controls without leprosy, who had undergone cataract surgery between2009 and 2013. The pre-existing astigmatism of the patients in both the groups wascompared and analysed.Results: Severe and very severe astigmatism did not occur in the non-leprosy group,but was found in 6·5% of the eyes of patients in the leprosy group. The differencebetween the groups was significant (x2 ? 21·68, P ? 0·0001).Conclusion: Pre-existing corneal astigmatism is significantly more severe inleprosy patients than in non-leprosy patients being prepared for cataract surgery. Thisknowledge helped us to customise the cataract surgery in order to achieve a betteroutcome.