Effect of incision size and Terry keratometer usage on postoperative astigmatism.

The efficacy of the Terry quantitative surgical keratometer in minimizing early postoperative astigmatism was evaluated in a retrospective study. Intraoperative use of the Terry keratometer reduced the keratometric corneal astigmatism in the early postoperative period for the 6.5-mm chord length phacoemulsification-lens implant incision as well as for the 10.0-mm to 11.0-mm chord length planned extracapsular cataract extraction-lens implant incision. In addition, the 6.5-mm chord length incision yielded a significant reduction in early postoperative astigmatism when compared to the 10.0-mm to 11.0-mm chord length incision. Furthermore, there was a reduction in the number of patients who required suture cutting in the keratometer group. The Terry quantitative surgical keratometer is a useful tool for reducing early postoperative surgical astigmatism and decreases the number of patients who require suture cutting.