Cataract Surgery Chicago - Lake County Gurnee

Limbal Relaxing Incisions (LRI)

If an eye has more than a minimal amount of corneal astigmatism, the vision without glasses after cataract surgery will not be as clear as in an eye without astigmatism. We can fix up to a moderate amount of astigmatism at the time of cataract surgery by making precision incisions in the corneal limbus, the part right next to the white of the eye, with an adjustable depth diamond blade. The decision as to where to place the incisions, the depth of the blade, the number of incisions and how long they should be is determined by using the data we get from a corneal topographer (Orbscan) and a nomogram.

An older version of LRI is called astigmatic keratotomy (AK). In AK the incisions are made in the cornea closer to the center of the pupil. While AK gives good results, LRI's seem to give somewhat better vision and are probably a little safer, although medical complications of AK's and LRI's are very rare.