To determine changes in corneal thickness after topical anesthesia. Corneal thickness was measured before and 3 minutes after administration of two drops of oxybuprocaine 0.4% to 26 patients (26 eyes). We analyzed the corneal thickness of a control group, which was made up of 26 patients (26 eyes) before and 3 minutes after administration of two drops of saline solution. Corneal thickness was measured with the Orbscan Topography System II (Bausch Lomb Surg., Barcelona). Variations higher than ± 10 μm were found following the instillation of 2 oxybuprocaine eye drops in eight eyes (30.76%) at the inferonasal cornea, in six eyes (23.08%) at the superotemporal, temporal and inferotemporal cornea, in five eyes (19.23%) at the nasal cornea, in three eyes (11.53%) at the central cornea, and in two eyes (7.69%) at the superonasal cornea. Nevertheless, no significant differences in the mean corneal thickness at each corneal location between the first and the second corneal thickness measurements were found in anesthetized eyes. Some individuals can present important increases and decreases in corneal thickness values after anesthetic eye drops. This effect of anesthetic eye drops must be considered by refractive surgeons when carrying out preoperative laser in situ keratomileusis corneal thickness measurements.

The human ribcage expands and contracts during respiration as a result of the interaction between the morphology of the ribs, the costo‐vertebral articulations and respiratory muscles. Variations in these factors are said to produce differences in the kinematics of the upper thorax and the lower thorax, but the extent and nature of any such differences and their functional implications have not yet been quantified. Applying geometric morphometrics we measured 402 three‐dimensional (3D) landmarks and semilandmarks of 3D models built from computed tomographic scans of thoraces of 20 healthy adult subjects in maximal forced inspiration (FI) and expiration (FE). We addressed the hypothesis that upper and lower parts of the ribcage differ in kinematics and compared different models of functional compartmentalization. During inspiration the thorax superior to the level of the sixth ribs undergoes antero‐posterior expansion that differs significantly from the medio‐lateral expansion characteristic of the thorax below this level. This supports previous suggestions for dividing the thorax into a pulmonary and diaphragmatic part. While both compartments differed significantly in mean size and shape during FE and FI the size changes in the lower compartment were significantly larger. Additionally, for the same degree of kinematic shape change, the pulmonary thorax changes less in size than the diaphragmatic thorax. Therefore, variations in the form and function of the diaphragmatic thorax will have a strong impact on respiratory function. This has important implications for interpreting differences in thorax shape in terms of respiratory functional differences within and among recent humans and fossil hominins. Anat Rec, 300:255–264, 2017.

To determine the decrease of Goldmann tonometry after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and laser assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) according to refraction prior to surgery. Prospective simultaneous comparative case series of 53 myopic eyes (53 patients) that underwent PRK and 50 (50 patients) that underwent LASIK using the Summit Excimed SVS plus (Summit Technology, Inc., Walthan, MA, U.S.A.). PRK and LASIK were subdivided by refractive error into two subgroups of more than or less than -5 diopters (D). Central tonometric readings were taken prior to surgery and 12 months after surgery. In LASIK and PRK subgroups of more than -5 D, 85.7% (24) and 69.6% (24), respectively, gave lower readings than those taken before surgery. In LASIK and PRK subgroups of less than -5 D, 77.3% (17) and 53.3% (16), respectively, gave lower readings. The difference between the two is significant (p < 0.001). Average tonometry falls by 2.8 mmHG in the LASIK subgroup of more than -5 D (p < 0.001) and by 2.8 mmHG in the LASIK subgroup of less than -5 D (p < 0.001) and by 1.7 mmHG in the PRK subgroup of more than -5 D (p < 0.010). In PRK subgroup of less than -5 D, the tonometric changes are not significant (p = 0.971). High previous refraction (in PRK) and technique used determines lower final tonometric readings, bringing about more frequent and significant decreases in LASIK than in PRK for errors of more than and less than -5 D.