Relationship of basal iridectomy to shallow chamber following cataract extraction.

Abstract

A study begun at the University of Oregon Medical School in 1950 revealed that shallowing of the anterior chamber after cataract extraction was an uncommon, but sometimes serious, complication which developed under several circumstances. In patients observed prior to 1951, the anterior chamber occasionally did not re-form during the first 24 hours after surgery. In those eyes a wound leak usually was demonstrable. In 1951, we began to use a limbus-based flap of conjunctiva and Tenon's capsule to bury a half-lap type of limbal incision which had been closed with multiple catgut sutures (Fig. 1). This technique virtually eliminated failure of reformation of the anterior chamber and epithelial ingrowth, but it did not prevent a second type of shallow chamber which most commonly developed without a demonstrable wound leak 7 to 21 days postoperatively. In 1957, Weisel and I 2 described what we thought were the important clinical features of