Surgical complications and visual acuity results in 536 cases of plate haptic silicone lens implantation.

Implantation of a plate haptic intraocular lens was planned in 536 cases. This paper reports the uncorrected and corrected visual acuities and complications in 33 patients in whom there were surgical complications that prevented implantation of the plate haptic lens. Excluding five patients (15%) who had pre-existing pathology, 21 (75%) had uncorrected acuity of 20/40 or better and 27 (96%) had corrected acuity of 20/40 or better five to six weeks postoperatively. The plate haptic lens can only be used with capsulorhexis and an intact anterior capsular rim and posterior capsule. Two alternative backup lens styles--a loop lens for placement in the torn bag or the sulcus and an anterior chamber lens--have to be in the operating room for each surgery.