Lens epithelial inhibition by PMMA optic: implications for lens design.

It has been a clinical impression that posterior chamber lens implants in some way inhibit opacification of the posterior lens capsule after extracapsular cataract extraction. The mechanism of this inhibition is unclear; it may be related to mechanical contact or blockage of migration of lens epithelial cells, or possibly to the leeching of toxic factors from the lens itself. A better understanding of the exact mechanism of opacification inhibition may have important clinical implications for intraocular lens design. For example, some lens designs that facilitate Nd:YAG capsulotomy by physically separating the posterior chamber lens and the posterior capsule may result in less inhibition and in fact more opacification of posterior capsules. We performed in vitro tissue culture studies of the effect of the polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) optic of a planoconvex intraocular lens on cultured rabbit lens epithelium. These studies demonstrated both inhibition of lens epithelial migration beneath the PMMA optic (plano side down) as well as metaplasia and necrosis of lens cells growing directly beneath the optic. The clinical implications of these studies for intraocular lens design are discussed.