[The evolution of cataract surgery, extra- and intraocular correction of aphakia]

The evolution of cataract surgery during the recent 2 centuries, and especially in the last 50 years, witnessed essential changes--from reclination of the lens and a traditional extracapsular cataract extraction to cataract microsurgery including phacoemulsification. A lack of the lens in the eye, i.e. aphakia, is considered to be a serious complication. The optic extraocular correction of aphakia is implemented mainly by the use of spectacles and contact lenses, which are not deprived of essential shortcomings. H. Ridley was the first to implant, in 1949, a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) intraocular lens (IOL). After that, anterior-chamber and iris-clips lenses as well as extrapupillary lenses with fixation to Sulcus cyliaris, which had by some complications, were offered. Only in 1973, we offered, for the first time in the world practice, an intracapsular implantation and intercapsular fixation of IOLs of various models. The designed intraocular correction of aphakia was checked by time and it is used now in cataract microsurgery, including small-incisions as well as ultrasound and laser phacoemulsification. The use of the lens bag as a natural bed for the fixation and isolation of IOL from intraocular structures is a priority direction in the Russian research ophthalmology.