Objectives: To report the keratometry data of pediatric cataractous eyes (randomly selected single eye of bilateral cases; cataractous eye of unilateral cases) and to compare the keratometry data of the unilateral cataractous eye with the corresponding noncataractous fellow eye.
Methods: Retrospective review of preoperative data of patients who had undergone cataract surgery before 18 years of age. Eyes with traumatic cataract or lens subluxation were excluded.
Results: Of the 299 eyes analyzed in our study, the average (SD) keratometry value was 45.39 (3.08) diopters (D) (range, 39.25-63.5 D). Age and axial length (AL) demonstrated a significant linear relationship with values (P < .001, R(2): logarithm of age, 0.31; axial length, 0.32). Keratometry values of younger children (aged 0-6 months) were significantly different from those of older children (P < .001). Girls had steeper corneas when compared with boys (P = .03). The values of eyes with cataract in monocular cases were steeper than that of bilateral cases (P = .07). For unilateral cataract, the eye with the cataract had a significantly steeper cornea than the fellow eye (P = .02).
Conclusion: The keratometry values of younger children were steeper than that of older children. In eyes with unilateral cataract, values of cataractous eyes were steeper compared with their noncataractous fellow eye.