MICS does not harm the cornea

Microincision cataract surgery (MICS) does not degrade the optical quality of the cornea or induce a modification in corneal astigmatism, according to a report published in the January issue of the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

Jorge Alio and colleagues from VISSUM, Instituto Oftalmologico de Alicante, Spain conducted a study to examine the effect of MICS on the optical quality of the cornea, characterized in terms of Seidel aberrations. A total of 25 eyes from 25 patients, with nuclear or corticonuclear cataract of grade 2+ to 4+, were enrolled.

MICS was performed using low ultrasound power through a 1.6 to 1.8 mm clear corneal incision placed on the axis of the positive corneal meridian. All eyes received an Acri.Smart 48S (Acri.Tec) intraocular lens (IOL). Seidel aberration root-mean-square (RMS) values were obtained with a 6 mm aperture using the CSO topographer (Costruzione Strumenti Oftalmici) preoperatively and one and three months postoperatively.

The total RMS following MICS decreased from a preoperative mean of 2.15±2.51 µm to 1.96±2.01 µm postoperatively; this decrease was not considered to be statistically significant. Furthermore, the difference between the preoperative corneal astigmatism (-0.80±0.76 D) and postoperative astigmatism (-0.63±0.62 D) was also not considered to be statistically significant, nor were the differences in Seidel aberrations, coma or higher-order aberrations.

The results of this study suggest that MICS does not degrade the optical quality of the cornea or induce a modification in corneal astigmatism.