Implantation of single‐piece foldable acrylic IOLs in small children in the Ukraine

Abstract

To evaluate the efficacy and outcome of implantation of a single-piece foldable acrylic intraocular lens (IOL) in children younger than 2 years in the Ukraine. A total of 31 children from all over the Ukraine with a median age of 11 months (range 2-28 months) underwent cataract surgery with anterior and posterior capsulorhexis, implantation of a single-piece AcrySof SA30AL IOL and anterior dry vitrectomy. Of these, 22 patients attended the last follow-up. Ten patients had follow-up periods of 12 months; 12 had follow-up periods of 18 months. At the postoperative visits, we investigated visual acuity (VA), whether or not the subject had strabismus, lens epithelial cell migration and signs of secondary glaucoma. The single-piece IOL remained clinically centred in all eyes. No secondary glaucoma was detected. Eleven patients needed surgery for after-cataract. All but two patients achieved better VA after surgery. Many patients suffered from deprivation amblyopia as quite a few cataracts were probably congenital; however, the improvement in VA shows that cataract surgery was worth performing despite the late intervention. The foldable single-piece acrylic IOL seems to be well tolerated by children aged 0-2 years. No serious complications were seen and no patient developed secondary glaucoma within the follow-up time. However, lens epithelial cells are very lively in this age group.