The ring of Soemmerring in man: an ultrastructural study.

The ultrastructure of lens remnants is described and illustrated after extracapsular cataract extraction in 11 pseudophakic human eyes, using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The retained lens material formed a ringlike structure that was enclosed by the posterior and anterior capsule, as described extensively in the literature, and was found to contain dividing and differentiating epithelium. Both normal and degenerating subcapsular lenticular fibers and a central cataractous region were found. The sealing of the anterior capsular flap to the posterior capsule, although rather tight, had failed to prevent epithelial cells from escaping the ring in 9 out of 11 cases. Inflammatory cells near this sealing place and in the ring were found in all three specimens examined by transmission electron microscopy.