correlation between corneal power and corneal diameter

purpose: to evaluate the correlation between corneal power and corneal horizontal white to white diameter in myopic patients scheduled for lasik surgery. methods: overall, in 840 eyes of 420 myopic subjects scheduled for lasik, horizontal white to white diameter and mean corneal power were obtained using orbscan ii. pearson correlation test and regression analysis were used to detect any correlation between corneal power and corneal diameter. results: mean spherical equivalent refractive error was -4.56±1.4 (range, -1 to -10.75) diopter, while mean keraometeric value was 43.69±1.5 (range, 40-47.2). a significant negative linear correlation was found between corneal power and white to white diameter as follows: corneal diameter= 65.79-(1.88×corneal power); r=0.204. conclusion: the negative linear correlation between mean corneal power and corneal white to white diameter may have clinical implications in refractive surgery for selection of a suitable microkeratome.