Incidence of posterior capsule opacification in eyes with exfoliation syndrome and heparin-surface-modified intraocular lenses.

Conventional poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) intraocular lenses (IOLs) and heparin-surface-modified (HSM) IOLs were implanted after extracapsular cataract extraction in 40 human eyes with exfoliation syndrome. The study was double-masked and randomized. Two years after surgery 17 cases with HSM IOLs and 15 with PMMA IOLs were examined. We observed that pigment and cell deposits were more frequent on the PMMA than on the HSM IOLs. The incidence of posterior synechia formation was similar in both groups. However, the incidence of neodymium:YAG laser posterior capsulotomy and posterior capsule opacification was more frequent in the PMMA IOL group. Visual acuity did not differ between the two groups before or two years after surgery. The results suggest that in eyes with exfoliation syndrome, implanting an HSM IOL reduces the incidence of posterior capsule opacification often associated with extracapsular cataract extraction.