A comparison of penetrating keratoplasty and lamellar keratoplasty in the surgical management of keratoconus.

A retrospective study of patients who underwent keratoplasty for keratoconus was done in 100 consecutive cases, of which 50 were penetrating keratoplasty procedures, and 50 were lamellar keratoplasty procedures. Each case was done by the same surgeon in both series. Criteria for patient selection were essentially the same. Postoperative care differed primarily in the time before suture removal, being an average of ten months in the penetrating keratoplasty group and three months in the lamellar keratoplasty group. Of those patients who underwent penetrating keratoplasty, the mean best-corrected visual acuity was 6/6 (20/20-) and the average corneal astigmatism was + 5.00 diopters. Of those patients who received lamellar keratoplasty, the mean best-corrected visual acuity was 6/9 (20/30-), and the average corneal astigmatism was +3.25 diopters. The most frequent complications of both techniques were wound separations that responded well to resuturing.