Functional Profile of a Customized Wound Parameter in Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Corneal Incision for Cataract Surgery

PURPOSE: To evaluate the performance of optimized parameters of femtosecond laser for cataract surgery corneal incisions regarding opening, patency and surgically induced astigmatism (SIA). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients scheduled for femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery between May 2018 and December 2018 were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were a healthy preoperative cornea and uneventful FLACS. Exclusion criteria were preoperative corneal astigmatism over 1.0 D, previous corneal trauma or pathologies. Clinical data were obtained from the electronic medical records. Surgical planning was based on Scheimpflug tomography images for keratometric data. At postoperative day 60, new keratometric evaluation was performed, obtained using the same device. RESULTS: 101 eyes (61 patients) matched the criteria for SIA analysis. Overall mean SIA was 0.44 ± 0.33 D (0–1.55 D). Axis and size did not have any statistically significant effects on SIA. The overall centroid of the SIA was 0.11. For the opening analysis, was included 156 eyes (79 patients). Successful opening in 87.7% of cases (137 eyes). Temporal incisions had the highest success rate (98.36%). CONCLUSION: These femtosecond laser parameters showed high opening rates with low opening times. These optimized parameters led to a low incidence of SIA and high predictability regardless of incision site and size. The association between incision opening and SIA was not statistically significant. There was, however, an association between incision opening success and site.