Extensive polishing reduced anterior, posterior capsular opacification

Eyes that underwent extensive polishing of the anterior capsule had less anterior and fibrotic posterior capsular opacification 3 years after surgery than eyes that had no polishing, according to a study in Austria.

Stefan Sacu, MD, and colleagues at the Medical University of Vienna conducted the study, which compared the long-term formation of capsular opacification in 104 eyes of 52 patients with bilateral age-related cataract. Half of the patients received an SI-40 IOL (Advanced Medical Optics) in both eyes, and half received a Silens6 IOL (Domilens) in both eyes. The anterior capsule of one eye in each patient was extensively polished during cataract surgery, and the contralateral eye was not polished.

Both these silicone IOL models have rounded edges, but they are made with different silicone materials and have different haptic angulations. The AMO lens has 13-mm PMMA haptics angulated by 10· and the Domilens has 12.5-mm PMMA haptics with no angulation.

Postoperatively, digital slit-lamp photographs were taken for 3 years to assess anterior capsular opacification (ACO) and fibrotic posterior capsular opacification.

The mean ACO was 17% of the polished eyes and 26% in the control eyes. The mean fibrotic posterior capsular opacification (PCO) score, on a scale of 0 to 4, was 0.5 for the polished eyes and 1 for the control eyes.

The ACO score was significantly lower in the polished eyes implanted with either lens than in the unpolished eyes. The fibrotic PCO score was significantly lower in the polished eyes implanted with the SI-40 lens than in the unpolished eyes with that lens. The PCO score was lower in the polished eyes implanted with the Silens6 than in the unpolished eyes, but this difference was not statistically significant, the study authors said.

The study is published in the November issue of Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.