More reoperations after congenital cataract surgery with IOL than with CL

Children implanted with an IOL after congenital cataract extraction had similar visual acuities but underwent more reoperations than those corrected with a contact lens after surgery, according to a retrospective study.

Scott R. Lambert, MD, and colleagues compared visual acuities and the number of reoperations in 25 children who underwent congenital cataract surgery in infancy; 12 were implanted with IOLs and 13 were corrected with contact lenses postoperatively. Visual acuities were assessed in 19 of the children at an average age of 4.3 years. The number of reoperations was assessed in 21 children.

The visual acuity results were similar in the two treatment groups, although the authors noted that, in the children operated on in the first 6 weeks of life, two of four children in the IOL group had 20/40 or better VA compared with two of seven in the contact lens group.

The children in the IOL group had a mean reoperation rate of 1.1 compared with 0.36 in the contact lens group. Most re-operations in the IOL group were membranectomies, and all the reoperations in the contact lens group were secondary IOL implantations.

The study is published in the November issue of British Journal of Ophthalmology.