Comparison of postoperative astigmatism in patients undergoing sutured and unsutured anterior limbal incision in phacoemulsification

Aim: to compare post-operative astigmatism in patients undergoing sutured and un-sutured anterior limbal incision in phacoemulsification. methods: this randomized controlled trial was conduct at department of ophthalmology,king fahad armed forces hospital,jeddah from june 2014 to december 2014. total 200 patients were enrolled by using non probability consecutive sampling technique. results: a total of 200 patients were examined. mean age of the patients was 57.66±.35 years. out of 100 patients of group a,astigmatism was seen in 74(74%) patients at 6th post-operative week. among the 100 patients of group b,astigmatism was found in 12(12%) patients at 6th post-operative week. hs(p=0.000) difference between proportion of astigmatism between the both group was seen. conclusion: results of this study revealed that surgically induced astigmatism is more common in phacoemulsification when suture is applied for wound closure. it affects the visual outcome significantly which is not acceptable in this modern era. so we should improve our surgical technique of phacoemulsification and no suture be required for wound closure.