ULTRASTRUCTURE OF THE ANTERIOR LENS CAPSULE AFTER VITRECTOMY WITH SILICONE OIL INJECTION - CORRELATION OF CLINICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES

To clarify the mechanical difficulties experienced when performing ant erior capsulorhexis in vitrectomized eyes filled with silicone oil. Fi ve anterior lens capsules removed from eyes with a silicone oil histor y were submitted to light and electron microscopic analysis and then c ompared to two capsules from eyes with trauma history and seven capsul es from eyes without silicone oil or trauma history. Comparable abnorm alities of the inner and outer surface of the anterior lens capsule we re consistently observed after silicone oil fill of the vitreous cavit y or after traumatic impact to the lens: patches of multilayer epithel ial cells with interspersed capsule material and connective tissue wer e observed on the posterior surface of the anterior lens capsule. The development of this anterior subcapsular tissue plaque is obviously in fluenced not only by the PVR process or by side effects of the surgica l procedure but also by the silicone oil tamponade or a trauma history . The plaque can be considered primarily responsible for the increased mechanical resistance of the lens capsule in all eyes with silicone o il/trauma history examined in this study.