Imaging and investigating the effects of incision angle of clear corneal cataract surgery with optical coherence tomography

Abstract

Effects of incision angle in construction of clear corneal cataract incision are studied with optical coherence tomography (OCT). A stable incision angle range is found to be existent for single-planed, clear corneal cataract incisions. When well pressurized, incision angles within this stable range result in well-apposed incision edges that resist gapping while incision angles falling outside this range have a larger tendency for wound leakage. It is also shown that a two-planed incision can effectively expand the stable range. For incision angles outside the stable range, the farther the incision angle is away from stable range, the larger the gap between incision wound edges when well pressurized. These findings emphasize the significance of incision construction to the self-sealing property of clear corneal cataract incisions. Finally, we demonstrate that OCT could be an effective modality for imaging and monitoring corneal surgery.