Pseudophakic and aphakic pupillary block

Fifteen eyes of 14 patients who underwent cataract extraction surgery with or without lens implantation developed pupillary block. Six lenses were of the anterior-chamber type, two of the posterior-chamber, and four of the iris-clip Binkhorst type; three were simple aphakic eyes. Ocular hypertension was present in 12 eyes; while in three eyes, the pupillary block was detected by biomicroscopic examination. In order to relieve the block, we performed one of the following three procedures: laser (yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), argon, or krypton) iridotomy, YAG laser photodisruption of the anterior vitreous face, or pars plana vitrectomy.