A multicenter study of interocular symmetry of corneal biometrics in Chinese myopic patients

It is essential to know the normal range of the interocular symmetry of the cornea (ISC) for keratoconus diagnosis and corneal substitutes design. In the present study we investigated the interocular symmetry of corneal biometrics in 6,644 Chinese myopic patients from multiple ophthalmic centers. Corneal biometrics of both eyes were exported from the Pentacam instrument. Interocular symmetry of the corneal biometrics was analyzed by Spearman’s correlation test, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) analysis and Bland–Altman plot. Significantly strong interocular correlations were found in anterior and posterior corneal curvatures, corneal diameter, corneal thickness, corneal volume, corneal eccentricity, and corneal asphericity ( r = 0.87–0.98, all P < 0.001). Moderate interocular correlations were observed in whole corneal astigmatism ( r = 0.78) and posterior corneal astigmatism ( r = 0.73). ICC between the right and left eyes was 0.94–0.98 for anterior and posterior corneal curvatures, corneal diameter, corneal thickness and corneal volume, 0.80–0.88 for corneal eccentricity and asphericity, and 0.73–0.79 for corneal astigmatism (all P < 0.001). Bland–Altman plot showed that the 95% limit of agreement between both eyes was narrow and symmetric in most of the corneal biometrics, suggesting strong interocular agreements in these corneal biometrics. In conclusion, significant interocular symmetry of corneal biometrics is observed in Chinese myopia patients. Extra attention should be paid to patients with interocular corneal asymmetry.