Corneal topography in contact lens wearers following penetrating keratoplasty.

We examined the effects of contact lens wear on corneal topography following penetrating keratoplasty (PK). We present the long-term follow-up of 23 eyes of 22 patients who underwent PK and rigid gas permeable contact lens fitting. Computerized corneal topography, manual keratometry, and refraction were conducted prior to contact lens fitting and then at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year post-fitting. At least 6 months follow up was obtained for 23 eyes of 22 patients, and at least 12 months follow-up was obtained for 18 eyes of 17 patients. Seventy four percent of the eyes were stable (+/- 1.00 D) by manual keratometry, computerized corneal topography, and refraction (both spherical equivalent and cylinder). Those patients who changed showed a trend toward a small decrease in refractive cylinder and spherical equivalent. Measurements obtained from both computerized corneal topography and manual keratometry showed a small but significant amount of flattening (P < 0.003 and P < 0.04, respectively).