Long-Term Risk of IOL Dislocation Studied

If you have had cataract surgery, should you worry about your intraocular lenses eventually dislocating?

To answer this question, researchers at the Mayo Clinic checked the records of all residents of Olmsted County, Minn., who had undergone cataract extraction from Jan. 1, 1980 through May 31, 2009. In the 14,471 cataract cases studied, 16 cases of late posterior chamber IOL dislocation were identified.

The researchers calculated that at five, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years after cataract surgery, the cumulative risk of IOL dislocation was low, at 0.1%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.7%, and 1.7%, respectively. And the risk did not change much over the three-decade study period.

They also found that pseudoexfoliation and zonular laxity at surgery were significantly correlated with late IOL dislocation. (Pseudoexfoliation involves fluffy material appearing on the lens capsule; it can weaken the zonules, which are fibers that hold in place the chamber containing the cataract and later the intraocular lens. This weakness is called zonular laxity.)

The study report was published online in the American Journal of Ophthalmology on June 17.