Limbal Lensectomy with or without Anterior Vitrectomy for the Management of Lens Subluxation

Chang, Ju Hee; Cha, Soon Cheol

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to assess the surgical outcomes of limbal lensectomy with or without anterior vitrectomy for the management of lens subluxation.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The medical records of 20 consecutive patients (33 eyes) with lens subluxation who had undergone limbal lensectomy with or without anterior vitrectomy from February 1999 to January 2004 were retrospectively reviewed.
RESULTS
All the patients, except one high axial myopic patient, were implanted with scleral sutured posterior chamber intraocular lens. We evaluated the preoperative, postoperative visual acuity and postoperative complications and compared the results in group I (limbal lensectomy with anterior vitrectomy, 27 eyes) to those in group II (limbal lensectomy without anterior vitrectomy, 6 eyes). The preoperative best-corrected visual acuity was 0.21 and postoperative best-corrected visual acuity was improved by 2 lines or more in all 27 eyes in group I, and in 5 eyes in group II (p>0.05). The most frequent postoperative complication was intraocular lens dislocation in four eyes (14.8%) in group I alone. No retinal detachment occurred in either group, even in patients with high myopia.
CONCLUSION
Limbal lensectomy without anterior vitrectomy improved visual acuity similarly to limbal lensectomy with anterior vitrectomy without significant increase of postoperative complications. This results of this study suggest that anterior vitrectomy is not necessarily required for the management of lens subluxation.