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Limbal relaxing incisions

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology

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Synonyms

Peripheral corneal relaxing incisions

Definition

Limbal relaxing incisions are a refractive surgical procedure to correct astigmatism, most commonly during phacoemulsification. The procedure consists of making a pair of incisions at the limbus which have the effect of changing corneal astigmatism.

Epidemiology

Due to the fact that cataract surgery is one of the most highly frequented surgical procedures worldwide, the number of limbal relaxing incisions is very high.

History

Starting in the 1990s, limbal relaxing incisions became popular for correcting corneal astigmatism of 0.5–4.0D. The technique was introduced by JP Gills, who also made nomograms to determine the length, number, and depth of the incisions.

Clinical Features

According to the Gills and Gayton nomograms which determine the length, number, and depth of incisions, generally a 6 mm incision corrects up to 2D of astigmatism. Paired incisions can correct up to 4D.

Tests

Thorough examination of the eyes and...

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Further Reading

  • Amesbury EC, Miller KM (2009) Correction of astigmatism at the time of cataract surgery. Curr Opin Ophthalmol 20:19–24

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Albert DM, Miller JW, Azar DT (2008) Albert & Jakobiec’s principles & practice of ophthalmology. Saunders, Philadelphia

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  • Gills JP, Gayton JL (1998) Reducing pre-existing astigmatism. In: Gills JP, Fenzl R, Martin RG (eds) Cataract surgery; the state of the art. Slack, Thorofare, pp 53–66

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt/Main, 60590, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

    Marko Ostovic & Thomas Kohnen

Authors
  1. Marko Ostovic
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  2. Thomas Kohnen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marko Ostovic .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Ophthal & Optometry,AKH, Medical University of Wien Dept of Ophthal & Optometry,AKH, Wien, Austria

    Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main Department of Ophthalmology, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Thomas Kohnen

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Ostovic, M., Kohnen, T. (2012). Limbal relaxing incisions. In: Schmidt-Erfurth, U., Kohnen, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_359-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_359-4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35951-4

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