Vitreous loss during intracapsular cataract extraction.

Among 448 patients operated upon for bilateral cataracts (896 eyes), vitreous was lost in 96 eyes, an incidence of 10.7%. The most striking difference between the whole group of eyes without vitreous loss (800 eyes) and those with vitreous loss is in the percentage of eyes able to perform a very good visual acuity postoperatively. An analysis of 50 cases losing vitreous unilaterally shows the following: (a) more than 80% of eyes with vitreous loss achieved a vision comparable to their fellow eyes; (b) 12% of eyes with vitreous loss achieved a poorer vision than their fellow eyes; and (c) fewer eyes with vitreous loss achieved a very good visual acuity as compared to their fellow eyes (8.7% to 11.1% in eyes with vitreous loss as compared to 21.5% to 22.2% of fellow eyes). The combination of vitreous loss with an accidental extracapsular cataract extraction had a worsening effect on the expected postoperative visual performance.