Pars plana management of ectopia lentis in children

Although the removal of the lens from patients with ectopia lentis has long been associated with a high rate of surgical complications, the surgical outlook for these patients is improving now that more sophisticated surgical modalities are available. We treated a series of eight consecutive patients with pars plana lensectomy (12 eyes) whose visual acuity could not be satisfactorily improved with optimal optical correction (phakic or aphakic). Visual acuity could not be improved in any of the subjects. Preoperative visual acuities ranged from 5/400 to 20/70. Eleven of 12 eyes maintained a visual acuity of 20/40 or better postoperatively over follow-up periods ranging from 1.0 to 6.3 years (mean, 5.1 years). There have been no significant surgical complications.