Effect of the intraocular lens on intraocular pressure

In the Miami Intraocular Lens Collaborative Study, 17 patients with glaucoma had a Copeland lens implanted at the time of cataract extraction. Seven additional glaucoma patients received a Binkhorst lens. Lens implantation did not adversely affect intraocular pressure or control of glaucoma, except in one patient who developed central retinal artery occlusion with rubeosis 1 1/2 years postoperatively and in one patient who had the lens removed because of iritis with uncontrolled glaucoma. Of 606 eyes that did not have glaucoma before cataract extraction and Copeland lens implant, many had transient postoperative pressure rise. Twenty-six (4.3%) developed prolonged pressure elevation. Nineteen patients were maintained on long-term medical therapy. The other seven were patients with iritis and glaucoma who had the implanted lens removed, including one who later had glaucoma surgery and one whose eye was later enucleated.