[Postoperative opacification of 12 hydrogel foldable lenses (Hydroview(R))]. / Postoperative Kunstlinsen-Eintrübungen bei 12 Hydrogel-Intraokularlinsen (Hydroview(R)).

BACKGROUND: To evaluate postoperative lens opacifications in foldable hydrophilic intraocular lenses. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 12 patients (9 female; 3 male; mean age 77.5 +/- 3 years) were referred from one ophthalmologic surgeon because of opacification of IOLs and markedly decreased visual acuity. Time between implantation and explantation varied from 8 month to 3 years. IOL explantation was performed in all 12 patients and IOL were examined by light-, transmission- and scanning electron microscopy. RESULTS: IOL-explantation was uneventful in all 12 patients. The explanted IOLs showed crystalline deposits 0.5 to 2 microm in diameter immediately beneath the surface of the lens. Eight of 12 patients had elevated serum levels for glucose (6 patients with manifest diabetes mellitus, 2 patients with pathological elevated levels for glucose). CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative opacification of hydrogel foldable lenses (Hydroview(R)) are apperantly caused by formation of crystalline deposits beneath the lens surface. These deposits may be associated with metabolic disorders, e.g. diabetes mellitus.

[Sub-epidermal calcinosis of the eyelid]. / Subepidermale Kalzinose des Oberlids.

We report on a 17-year-old male with an asymptomatic yellowish-grayish solitary tumor of the right medial upper lid margin. An excisional biopsy was performed and histopathologic examination revealed subepidermal calcinosis. The other eye showed a granulomatous chrorioretinits of unknown etiology. The relative rare occurrence of subepidermal calcification should be kept in mind when making a differential diagnosis of superficial lid tumors. In our histopathology laboratory this is the first diagnosis of subepidermal calcinosis among 1,400 comparable specimens from 1980 to 1990. A possible relationship between the subepidermal calcification and granulomatous chorioretinitis of the other eye is discussed.

Regression of posterior uveal malignant melanomas after cobalt plaque radiotherapy.

We reviewed the records of 17 patients with posterior uveal malignant melanoma who had been followed for at least 3 months prior to cobalt plaque radiotherapy and whose tumor had been documented to enlarge in thickness during that interval. We evaluated the relationship between the rates of pretreatment tumor enlargement and post-treatment tumor shrinkage using linear regression analysis. We found that the rate of postirradiation tumor shrinkage correlated strongly with the rate of preirradiation tumor enlargement regardless of whether the pretreatment rate of growth was slow, intermediate or rapid. We speculate that the more rapidly regressing tumors were more mitotically active than their more slowly regressing counterparts. If true, the survival rate of patients whose posterior uveal malignant melanomas regress rapidly following radiation therapy may prove to be worse than that of patients whose tumors regress slowly.