[Spontaneous fracture of an implanted anterior chamber lens]

This report deals with an 83-year-old patient who presented with visual deterioration. The patient had had an intracapsulary extraction with anterior chamber lens implantation. The break in the anterior chamber lens happened without any history of traumatic accident and led to dislocation of the lens and corneal decompensation. Scanning electron microscopy of the break area after explantation of the fragments revealed changes in the break zone that were characteristic of alternating tensile and compressive stress. Localization of the break at the transition of the optical part and the haptic where there is the greatest stress in the material points to insufficient strengthening in this critical part of the intraocular lens.