Complications of rigid anterior chamber implants

Despite accurate lens sizing, 100 eyes with rigid anterior chamber implants showed a high incidence of lens-related trauma postoperatively: pigment dispersion (pseudoguttata), angle recession, peripheral anterior synechiae, iris erosion/atrophy, iris holes from stretching, angle fibrosis, haptic tip erosion into sclera and iris, neovascularization of peripheral iris and angle, lens rotation through iridectomy and into ciliary body, lens tilting with corneal endothelial touch, high refractive cylinder with long intraocular lenses, pigment proliferation onto iris surface, partial slippage of the intraocular lens into vitreous following intracapsular procedure, and pupillary-block glaucoma. Vision results were good. Glaucoma and cystoid macular edema rates were low. Bullous keratopathy and retinal detachment didn't occur. High endothelial cell loss was associated with those lenses that "propellered" and those that tilted and touched endothelium. The adverse findings may be static or may represent a continuing process of tissue damage.