[A classification of intraocular bacteriologic findings following lens implantation]

Findings in seven patients with intraoperative bacterial invasions are reported. These invasions were classified in three stages of severity: (1) According to the literature it may be assumed that clinically undetectable invasion occurs in more than 10% of all operations. The bacteria detected in one case may have been a secondary finding in an electron-microscopic study. (2) A benign endophthalmitis caused by Staphylococcus epidermidis was found in three patients. The symptoms initially prompted the incorrect diagnosis "toxic lens syndrome". Cells resembling leukocytes were detected on the lenses by light microscopy. Following explantation of the lens and the posterior capsule, patients' vision slowly recovered to an average of 0.8. (3) Of three patients with fulminant panophthalmitis caused by Enterococci and/or Staphylococcus epidermidis, only one patient re-attained 0.5 vision, after two weeks; in the second case vision remained restricted to "hand movements", and in the third the eye had to be enucleated.