The asphericity, curvature and tilt of the human cornea measured using a videokeratoscope

Abstract

The EyeSys videokeratoscope (VK) measurements of the principal corneal meridians of 98 subjects already analysed by Douthwaite et al. [Ophthal. Physiol. Opt. (1999)19:467¿474] were re-analysed in order to revise the assessment of asphericity, to derive information on corneal tilt and to assess the degree to which the corneal section approximates to that of a conic section. The range of normality for the revised p-value (asphericity) was from 0.57 to 0.97 for the near horizontal and from 0.56 to 1.08 in the near vertical principal meridians. The approximate corneal tilt angles ranged from ¿3.95 to +8.13 degrees in the horizontal and from ¿8.99 to +9.33 degrees in the vertical meridian. A tilted conicoidal surface will display a linear relationship (r = 1) when a scatterplot is drawn of the perpendicular distance squared vs radius squared, after first averaging the two semimeridian results for each VK ring. Analysing the results from the human cornea in the same way allows an assessment of the degree to which the corneal section approximates to that of the conic section.