"Knife cut technique". A new way for intra ocular lens (IOL) explantation

We report a novel technique which enables to cut any kind of foldable lens and extract it using capsulorhexis forceps and a 1.2 mm single-use slit angled knife.

The technique consists in using the capsulorhexis forceps to mantain and stabilize the IOL in the anterior chamber, and while one hand holds the IOL in that way, the second hand introduces a 1.2 mm slit angled knife through a paracenthesis and cuts the IOL on 3/4 of his diameter. The IOL is then extracted in one or twe pieces.

Since march 2021 we performed the technique in 82 eyes of 79 patients. Learning curve was very fast and the technique was easily managed by two experimented surgeons.

Intraocular lens (IOL) explantation is not a simple surgical technique, and requires potentially dangerous surgical maneuvers hence the description of several surgical techniques, and the existence of expensive extraction kits which provide micro scissors and micro forceps to cut the lens more easily. We believe that the knife cut technique, which has never described to this day, is particularly interesting since it is cheap, easy to do, and useful for all foldable IOL explantation.