AIM: To explore the difference in corneal diameter between genders, right and left eyes, and the correlation between spherical equivalent(SE)by measuring the corneal diameter of myopia operation patients,.

METHODS: Corneal horizontal diameters \〖white-to-white(WTW)distance\〗 were measured with IOL Master of German Zeiss company in 126 myopia cases(252 eyes)undergone excimer laser operation, male 48 cases(96 eyes)and female 78 cases(156 eyes), aged between 18～45 years(average age 24.23±5.35 years), from March 2013 to August 2013 in our myopia outpatient. Subjective refraction was adopted by NIDEK RT-2100 comprehensive refractometer for each eye, and converted into the SE. Eyes were divided into three groups according to the SE as follows: group 1(low myopia group, -3.00DRESULTS: The average corneal diameter was 11.52±0.41mm. The average corneal diameter was 11.60±0.35mm in males compared with 11.43±0.36mm in females, the differences in gender were significant in the t-test for independent samples(t=0.021, P=0.009). The average corneal diameter was 11.53±0.40mm in right eyes and 11.51±0.42mm in left eyes, there were no significant differences between right and left eyes in the t-test for paired samples(t=-0.115, P=0.912). Corneal diameters classified with SE were 11.59±0.39mm, 11.48±0.40mm and 11.45±0.41mm respectively for low, moderate and high myopia. The corneal diameter was negatively correlated with the SE(R²=0.001, P=0.001). Differences among three groups proved to be significant in the ANOVA(F=4.487, P=0.004).

CONCLUSION: The corneal diameter in myopia operation patients is significantly greater in males than that in females, but no significant differences between the right and left eyes. The corneal diameter is negatively correlated with the SE. The higher the degree of myopia, the shorter the corneal diameter.