AIM: To explore the effect of corneal suture tension on the accuracy of intraocular lens power calculation in traumatic cataract.

METHODS: In this prospective study, 57 patients who were waiting for secondary intraocular lens implantation surgery with sutured corneal penetrating injury and extracted traumatic cataract in our hospital from March 2017 to March 2019, were divided into observation group and control group. Corneal sutures were removed one week before operation in the observation group, while corneal sutures were removed during the operation in the control group. The corneal curvature, corneal astigmatism, anterior chamber depth, axial length and theoretical intraocular lens power in the observation group were compared before and after suture removal; the postoperative uncorrected visual acuity and corneal astigmatism were compared between the observation group and the control group.

RESULTS: There were significant changes in corneal curvature(43.15±1.32D vs 45.05±1.20D), corneal astigmatism(-5.23±2.52D vs -2.04±1.44D)and theoretical intraocular lens power(22.24±2.36D vs 20.40±1.46D)before and after suture removal(P<0.05), while there were no difference in anterior chamber depth and axis length in the observation group(P>0.05). The uncorrected visual acuity was better, and the corneal astigmatism was lower 1d, 1wk, 1mo and 3mo post-operative in the observation group than that in the control group(P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: Corneal suture tension has significant effect on corneal astigmatism, theoretical intraocular lens power calculation and postoperative refraction in traumatic cataract patients.