Rayner lecture. Lens implantation and the monocular patient

In a series of 1,000 consecutive cases of posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation, 49 patients were monocular, being irreversibly 20/200 or worse in the unoperated eye. The results of surgery on these patients are reported and it is noted that three patients required subsequent additional intraocular surgery, one of these cases related to loss of vision in the unoperated eye which affirms the bilaterality of some ocular disease. While intraocular lens implantation may be performed on monocular cases, attention should be given to the reason for visual loss in the fellow eye; moreover, both patient and surgeon should consider the risks involved.