Study of laser damage to injection-molded diffractive intraocular lenses

A study of the probability of damage induced in two implant quality injection-molded diffractive intraocular lenses by a commercial Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is presented. The damage thresholds of the diffractive intraocular lenses (0.10 mJ at 10% probability, 0.24 mJ at 50% probability, and 0.90 mJ at 99% probability) did not differ significantly from those of other poly(methyl methacrylate) lenses manufactured with the same technology. These low values (compared to those of other lens types) suggest that care should be taken during laser capsulotomy in eyes implanted with refractive lenses, with special attention given to power losses at the target site due to diffraction effects.