Evaluation of central corneal thickness after cataract surgery, penetrating keratoplasty and long-term soft contact lens wear

Abstract Purpose The aim of this study was to compare central corneal thickness (CCT) between corneas of normal healthy eyes (cNHE), corneas of eyes that had undergone cataract surgery by clear corneal phacoemulsification with implantation of an intracapsular intraocular lens (cIOL), corneal grafts after penetrating keratoplasty (gPK) and corneas of long-term soft contact lens wearers (cCL). Methods The study design was a consecutive cross-sectional trial. CCT was measured using rotating Scheimpflug camera (Pentacam, software version 1.16r04) in 80 cNHE, 79 cIOL, 46 gPK and 78 cCL. Analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) was performed to compare differences of mean values between these four groups. Pearson's or Spearman's correlation coefficient ( r ) was determined between CCT value and age, follow up time after penetrating keratoplasty (timePK) or contact lens wearing time (timeCL). Results Means of CCT measurements were comparable between cNHE (mean CCT ± standard deviation, 554 ± 36 μm), cIOL (551 ± 40 μm) and gPK (534 ± 52 μm) as determined by one-way ANOVA. Mean CCT values in cCL (537 ± 37 μm) were statistically significantly lower in comparison to cNHE ( p = 0.026, 95% CI = 1.43–31.44). There was no linear correlation between age and CCT values of cNHE and cIOL ( p = 0.841, r = −0.031 and p = 0.931, r = 0.011, respectively). No linear relationship was determined between CCT values of cCL and timeCL ( p = 0.315, r = −0.125). CCT values of gPK did not correlate with timePK ( p = 0.738, r = 0.054). Conclusions The data reported here indicate that in the same statistical model among CCT values of cNHE, cIOL and gPK only long-term soft contact lenses (CL) wearer have significantly lower CCT measurements.