[Congenital cataracts: complications and functional results according to different surgical techniques]

To evaluate visual results, refractive error and complications in a series of congenital cataracts treated with different surgical techniques.

Retrospective review of 51 eyes with congenital cataracts which were surgically treated between 1989 and 2005. Eleven were unilateral cataracts and 40 were bilateral cataracts. Thirty-three eyes were treated with a primary intraocular lens (IOL) and 18 were aphakic eyes.

The best outcomes were observed in bilateral cataracts and in those that received early primary IOL. Three eyes achieved 0.8-1, two eyes achieved 0.6-0.7. All of them were eyes with primary IOL. Seventeen percent of unilateral cataracts and 23.8% of bilateral cataracts achieved 0.4 or better. The most serious complication was visual axis opacification (VAO), 27 of 51 eyes developed VAO. Fifty percent of eyes with primary IOL and 63% of aphakic eyes developed VAO. The VAO developed sooner in the IOL group (6.5 months on average). There was a high myopic shift in 3 eyes. There was a significantly greater myopic shift in the unilateral cases.

The best acuities were achieved in the eyes which had been treated with early primary IOL, but they had a higher rate of complications (VAO), thus requiring reoperation. Final refraction in the unilateral group was significantly more myopic than in the bilateral group.