New paper: Scleral shape and its correlations with corneal astigmatism

This work assesses the correlation between the scleral shape and corneal astigmatism. Three-dimensional corneoscleral maps, acquired using a corneoscleral topographer, were used to investigate corneal and scleral shape of astigmatic and non-astigmatic eyes. The results indicate that in astigmatic eyes, corneal and scleral asymmetry are highly correlated, but both appear independent of each other in non-astigmatic eyes (see Figure). The fact that corneal and scleral shapes are correlated in astigmatic eyes suggests that astigmatism is not restricted to the cornea but should rather be considered a property of the entire eye globe.

Consejo A, Rozema JJ. Scleral shape and its correlations with corneal astigmatism. Cornea. 2018. (DOI: 10.1097/ICO.0000000000001565).

Figure. Average of the second term of the fitting series (a2 · sin(2x + c2)) corresponding to the astigmatism contribution, for the participants’ left eyes for astigmatic (right: 11 participants) or nonastigmatic (left: 11 participants). C, cornea; S, sclera.