FUNCTIONAL RESULTS OF POSTERIOR CHAMBER LENS IMPLANTATION WITH SCLERAL FIXATION

Recently, scleral fixation has been used in posterior chamber intraocu lar lens implantation in the absence of the posterior capsule. Fixatio n is achieved with a suture through the ciliary sulcus and sclera at a horizontal or vertical position. To achieve good functional results, the optical portion of the lens must lie on the optical axis. Unilater al lens implantation in the absence of the posterior capsule was perfo rmed with scleral fixation in 48 patients. Follow-up ranged from 14 mo nths to 2.6 years. The position of the posterior chamber lens was defi ned in relation to the limbus and the pupillary margin. There was no e vidence of lens decentration in miosis. Under conditions of extreme my driasis, decentration of less than 1.0 mm was found in four patients; four others had approximately 1.5 mm of decentration. Magnetic resonan ce imaging was used to determine lens position in some cases. Scleral fixation is a viable alternative for implantation of posterior chamber lenses in the absence of the posterior capsule.