Uncomplicated bilateral intraocular lens implants: intracapsular and extracapsular results in the same patient

Forty-one patients (82 eyes) underwent bilateral intraocular lens implantation. The first eye of each patient received an anterior chamber lens with intracapsular extraction while the second eye received a posterior chamber lens with extracapsular extraction. Ninety-two per cent of the eyes having intracapsular extraction and 95 per cent of the eyes undergoing extracapsular extraction obtained 20/40 vision or better when surgery was free of intraoperative complications. Statistical difference between groups was not significant. The most common complication was chronic cystoid macular oedema, the incidence of which did not differ between groups. Using patients as their own controls, there does not appear to be a statistically significant difference in results or complications between cataract extraction performed by an intracapsular technique and anterior chamber lens versus an extracapsular procedure with posterior chamber lens.