[Causes of intraocular lens removal]

The causes of 25 cases of intraocular lens (IOL) explanation were reviewed retrospectively. Of the IOLs removed, 4 were anterior chamber (AC) IOLs and 21 posterior chamber (PC) IOLs. The average interval between cataract extraction with lens implantation and the IOL explantation in AC IOLs was 23.5 months and in PC IOLs 7.1 months. The causes of AC IOL removal were pseudophakic bullous keratopathy in 1 and uveitis-glaucoma-hyphema syndrome in 3 cases. The causes of PC IOL explantation included dislocation or subluxation in 12, pseudophakic bullous keratopathy in 4, pseudophakic retinal detachment in 3 and endophthalmitis in 2 cases. Surgical procedures included simple IOL removal or combined with 3 port-vitrectomy, penetrating keratoplasty, vitreoretinal microsurgery, anterior vitrectomy and pupillary membranectomy. Post-operatively, the visual outcome in most of the eyes showed improvement or stabilization.