Purpose: To examine the effects of a toric intraocular lens (IOL) on the correction of preexisting corneal astigmatism after cataract surgery.
Methods: Fifty eyes that underwent phacoemulsification were enrolled in three group: (1) eyes with corneal astigmatism ≥1.0 diopter (D) that received a toric IOL (Alcon SN6AT) (toric), (2) eyes with astigmatism ≥1.0 D that received a nontoric IOL (high-astigmatism group), and (3) eyes with astigmatism <1.0 D that received the nontoric IOL (low-astigmatism group). Refractive and corneal astigmatism, astigmatic change, and uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) were examined.
Results: The postoperative refractive astigmatism in the toric and low-astigmatism groups was significantly lower than that of the high-astigmatism group (P ≤ 0.0040), and the reduction in the refractive astigmatism was greater in the toric than in the high- and low-astigmatism groups (P < 0.0001), although the corneal astigmatism was greatest in the toric group, followed by the high- and low-astigmatism groups (P < 0.0001). The mean UCVA in the toric and low-astigmatism groups was better than that in the high-astigmatism group (P < 0.0001).
Conclusions: The toric IOL proved effective in astigmatism correction, and both the residual astigmatism and UCVA in the eyes with the the toric IOL were better than those in the eyes with high astigmatism and were comparable to those in the eyes with low astigmatism.