You have scheduled a patient for cataract surgery and the case seems relatively routine. The biometry was good and the IOL calculations seemed reasonable. The patient’s refraction prior to cataract surgery was about plano. You calculated that a +17.5 D single-piece acrylic IOL (A-constant of 119.2) will give a post-op refraction of plano.
You look carefully at the eye and even before the first incision, you can tell that there is a LASIK flap. Now you look again at the biometry and see that the axial length was 26mm and the corneal power is about 39-40 diopters. This patient must have had myopic LASIK.
What do you do now? Cancel the case and get other measurements? Or do you adjust the IOL power on the spot and do the surgery? Let’s say that you do not have any devices in the operating room which can help (no ability to do aphakic auto-refraction or aberrometry).
Click below to see the video and learn what I chose to do:
