Bilateral Central Crystalline Corneal Deposits Four Years After Intacs for Myopia

PURPOSE

To report a case of bilateral central crystalline keratopathy in the anterior stroma occurring 4 years after Intacs implantation.

METHODS

A 45-year-old woman underwent bilateral uncomplicated Intacs implantation for myopia. The postoperative course was uneventful. However, between 3 and 4 years after surgery, the patient developed central opacifications of the anterior stroma in both eyes, reducing best spectacle-corrected visual acuity.

RESULTS

Intacs were explanted. Confocal microscopy, electron microscopy of the explanted ring segments, and microbiology studies were performed. Opacities were still detectable at the slit-lamp microscope up to 8 months after explantation.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first report on central corneal opacifications after Intacs implantation for myopia. The opacities could be the result of chronic metabolic stress or the beginning of lipid-like changes in another more central corneal localization. [J Refract Surg. 2006;22:910-913.]

AUTHORS

From the Department of Ophthalmology, Inselspital, University of Bern (Katsoulis, Sarra, Frueh); and the Department of Anatomy, University of Bern (Schittny), Bern, Switzerland.

The authors have no proprietary interest in the materials presented herein.

Correspondence: Beatrice E. Frueh, MD, Dept of Ophthalmology, Inselspital, University of Bern, Bern CH-3010, Switzerland. Tel: 41 31 632 85 38; E-mail: Beatrice.frueh@insel.ch

Received: June 17, 2005

Accepted: March 9, 2006

Posted online: June 30, 2006