Interocular symmetry analysis of bilateral eyes

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the interocular symmetry of several biometric parameters between both eyes. The symmetry between the right and left eye of 397 subjects in 14 biometric parameters, spherical equivalent of refractive error (SE), Jackson crossed cylinder power of refractive error astigmatism with axes at 90° and 180° (RJ0) and at 45° and 135° (RJ45), best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), average corneal curvature (CC), Jackson crossed cylinder power of corneal astigmatism (CJ0 and CJ45), corneal asphericity coefficient (Q), intraocular pressure (IOP), central corneal thickness (CCT), axial length (AL), anterior chamber depth (ACD), lens thickness (LT) and vitreous chamber depth (VCD), was assessed by comparative data analysis. Aside from RJ0 (p = 0.00), RJ45 (p = 0.02) and Q (p = 0.00), the overall interocular differences of other biometric parameters between fellow eyes were not significant (p > 0.05). The interocular correlation and Bland-Altman plots showed a good agreement between fellow eyes in 14 biometric parameters. Correlations between interocular differences in SE and that in RJ0 (p = 0.03), CC (p = 0.00), AL (p = 0.00) and VCD (p = 0.00) were statistically significant. There were similar strong linear relationships between refractive error astigmatism vectors and corneal astigmatism vectors in bilateral eyes. There were negative correlations of RJ45 and CJ45 between bilateral eyes. A potentially clinically important interocular symmetry in SE, BCVA, CC, CJ0, CJ45, IOP, CCT, AL, ACD, LT and VCD is found in this research, while the differences of RJ0, RJ45 and Q between left and right eyes seem a bit large. The negative interocular relationships of RJ45 and CJ45 demonstrate moderate mirror symmetry exists among fellow eyes. High interocular symmetry in bilateral eyes may be helpful in intraocular lens power calculation, intraocular pressure evaluation, post-operative visual acuity and refraction prediction at the time the fellow eye is undergoing refractive surgery.