Retinal detachment in phakic eyes with anterior chamber intraocular lenses to correct severe myopia.

Abstract

To analyze the incidence and characteristics of retinal detachment in patients with severe myopia corrected by implantation of phakic anterior chamber intraocular lenses. We studied retinal detachments in 166 consecutive eyes (98 patients) that underwent implantation of angle-supported phakic anterior chamber intraocular lenses (models ZB5M and ZB5MF; Domilens; Lyon, France) for the correction of severe myopia (follow-up +/- SD, 45.26 +/- 14.65 months; range, 20 to 84 months). Retinal detachment occurred in eight eyes (4.8%); four eyes belonged to men and four to women. The time between implanting surgery and retinal detachment was 17.43 +/- 16.4 months (range, 1 to 44 months). In all cases, retinal detachment was spontaneous. In seven eyes, the retina was reattached successfully during the first retinal detachment surgery. Mean best-corrected visual acuity after phakic anterior chamber intraocular lens implantation and before retinal detachment development was 20/50 (range, 20/100 to 20/25). After retinal detachment repair, best-corrected visual acuity was 20/73 (range, 20/2000 to 20/33). In these seven eyes, differences between best-corrected visual acuity before and after reattachment were not statistically significant (P = .898, paired Student t test). In one eye, a proliferative vitreoretinopathy was observed, which required additional treatment by vitrectomy and explantation of the phakic anterior chamber intraocular lens. A refractive change was observed after retinal detachment repair, from -1.1 +/- 0.7 diopters (range, 0.00 to -2.50 diopters) before retinal detachment and -2.8 +/- 1.1 diopters (range, -1.00 to -4.50 diopters) after retinal detachment surgery (P = .03, paired Student t test). The implantation of a phakic anterior chamber intraocular lens as a correcting procedure for severe myopia was followed by a 4.8% incidence of retinal detachment. Conventional scleral surgery was successful in most cases, without causing significant changes in the final best-corrected visual acuity. A significant increase in the myopic spherical equivalent was observed after retinal detachment repair in these patients.