Long-term follow-up of obsolete design: Iris-clip glass intraocular lens

Abstract

An enucleated eye obtained post-mortem from a 95-year-old donor who had a 4-loop, iris-fixated (iris-clip) glass intraocular lens (IOL) that had been implanted 22 years earlier was analyzed. The patient had a history of mild corneal edema, glaucoma, and macular degeneration/macular pucker. High-frequency ultrasound showed a well-centered iris-fixated IOL. Gross and light microscopic analyses of the eye and the IOL showed fragments of iris tissue attached to the haptics, pigment dispersion within the eye, with pigmented epithelial cells attached to the lens haptics and interruptions of the iris pigmented epithelial layers, and signs of corneal decompensation.

The six generations of the intraocular lens evolution

“…Pathology showed fragments of iris tissue attached to the haptics, pigment dispersion within the eye, signs of corneal decompensation, and significant changes in the iris pigment epithelium. 5 Lenses made of glass were discontinued because they may crack during Nd:YAG laser application. 6 Binkhorst later modified his early 4-loop iris-clip lens, creating the 2-loop iridocapsular lens, so the optical component remained in front of the iris but the haptics were inserted into the capsular bag after ECCE, which had largely been abandoned as a surgical technique since Ridley first implant.…”

“…Pathology showed fragments of iris tissue attached to the haptics, pigment dispersion within the eye, signs of corneal decompensation, and significant changes in the iris pigment epithelium. 5 Lenses made of glass were discontinued because they may crack during Nd:YAG laser application. 6…”