Pathology of fixation fibrosis on intraocular lenses.

Ocular tissues frequently form a special kind of reactive fibrosis with distinct cellular strands that anchors prominent surface irregularities of lens implants--haptics, manipulation holes, or borders--to adjacent ocular structures and helps fixate the implant in the eye. The strands originate in reactive proliferation of chemotactically attracted sessile macrophages on the surface of lens implants. They are cellular in their early stages and may undergo secondary fibrosis or hyalinization. The formation of these strands is called "fixation fibrosis." An initial description of the pathology of this complicated process is presented.