Clinical Outcomes of the Surgical Management with Dislocated Posterior Chamber Intraocular Lens

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical outcomes of the surgical treatment in patients with dislocation of an intraocular lens (IOL). METHODS: The present study investigated the postoperative naked visual acuity, corrected visual acuity, astigmatism, and postoperative complications in patients with a minimum follow-up of 1 month after the surgical treatment of a dislocated posterior chamber IOL. RESULTS: The study included 48 eyes of 48 patients (32 males and 16 females) with an age ranging from 33 to 76 years with a mean of 56.7 years at initial visit. The mean time interval from cataract extraction and IOL implantation to dislocation of IOL was 4.9 years. The IOL was exchanged in 13 eyes and was repositioned in 35 eyes. The IOL was repositioned without tying in 11 eyes, by scleral fixation with tying inside the eye in 10 eyes, and by scleral fixation with tying outside the eyeball in 14 eyes. The mean naked visual acuity improved from 1.21 +/- 0.70 to 0.70 +/- 0.48 (p = 0.001) and the best corrected visual acuity improved significantly from 0.82 +/- 0.68 to 0.35 +/- 0.30 (p = 0.002). Among the repositioned IOLs managed by IOL repositioning using scleral fixation with tying inside the eye, 4 eyes re-dislocated. These eyes were re-treated for a second time with IOL repositioning and scleral fixation with tying outside the eye. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical management of dislocated IOLs resulted in significant improvement of visual acuity. Scleral fixation with tying inside the eye had a high risk of re-dislocation because of the difficulty in tightly securing the knot.