Incidence Rate and Occurrence of Cataract and/or Corneal Decompensation After Implantation of Anterior Chamber pIOL: 14-Year Review
Narrative Responses:
Purpose
To report the characteristics, incidence rate and outcomes of Verisyse phakic intraocular lens (pIOL) removal performed at an instutition that has been implanting these lenses over a 14 year period (since the devices were in FDA clinical trials).
Methods
Retrospective chart review of all patients undergoing Verisyse pIOL at our institution with one surgeon between 1999 and 2013 was performed. No cases were excluded. Primary reasons for explantion were identified, and visual outcomes after explanation were measured by visual acuity and presence of cornea edema or bullous keratopathy.
Results
Six cases of explantation of a Verisyse pIOL out of 213 eyes with Verisyse pIOLs implanted over a 13.6 year period were identified. Four of the pIOLs were removed to facilitate extraction of a visually significant cataract, one was removed due to both cataract formation and development of bullous keratopathy (BK) and another lens was removed due to development of localized peripheral corneal edema. The incidence rate for pIOL removal in this patient population is 5.0 per 1000 patient-years with pIOL.
Conclusion
Despite reported safety and efficacy of Verisyse pIOLs, complications include cataract development and corneal decompensation. We found no increase in the rate of cataract extraction in the pIOL population compared to the general population. However, development of corneal edema and BK secondary to pIOL implantation is a serious concern.