Brown discoloration of acrylic hydrophobic intraocular lens

We report a case series of brown discoloration of Abbott Medical Optics, USA, acrylic intraocular lens (IOLs; AABOO, ZCBOO, and ZMBOO) after cataract operation.

Retrospective case series.

Patients with brown discoloration of their IOLs postoperatively during the period from March 2013 to October 2013 at the Singapore National Eye Centre were consecutively identified.

Distance best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure, slit-lamp examination, colour fundus photographs, flare meter reading, endothelial cell count, dilated fundus examination, as well as colour discrimination test on the Lanthony D 15 Hue test were performed.

Sixteen eyes of 14 patients were found to have evenly brown discoloration of varying degrees of acrylic IOL postphacoemulsification. This included 11 AABOO IOLs, 3 ZCBOO IOLs, and 2 ZMBOO IOLs. All had uneventful surgery except one who required anterior vitrectomy for posterior capsule rupture. One patient had uneventful operation but subsequently developed pigment dispersion glaucoma with tunnel vision and required a trabeculectomy. Mean time from operation to reporting date was 143 days (range 1-327 days). Pre- and postoperative month 6 BCVA was logMAR 0.54 and logMAR 0.13, respectively. None of the patients had loss of lines of BCVA. The desaturated Lanthony D 15 Hue test was abnormal in 8 out of the 16 eyes. None required IOL explantation.

Varying degrees of brown discoloration may occur in today's modern hydrophobic acrylic IOLs.