Solar retinitis, photic maculopathy and the pseudophakic eye.

The pseudophakic retina is shown to be at greater risk than the normal retina to photochemical damage from solar observation because current polymethylmethacrylate intraocular lenses allow greater ultraviolet retinal irradiances and higher retinal temperature increases than crystalline lenses. The implications of this finding are presented in terms of mechanisms for photic retinal damage, and relationships between photic maculopathy and degenerative retinal diseases are discussed.