The influence of new surgical procedures on retinal pathology in aphakia after congenital cataract surgery.

After reviewing the incidence of aphakic retinal detachment more specifically on eyes that have been submitted to surgery for congenital cataracts, the authors make some remarks and discuss the value, the advantages, and the yet unknown risks that the new methods of lens removal may have as regards retinal pathology. Special consideration is given to the balance of the advantages: more complete elimination of the opacities, lower incidence of immediate morbidity, better visual results and postoperative possibilities of retinal examinations; against the, as yet unknown, late retinal complications with new procedures such as ultrasonics, phacoemulsification, pars plana approach for lens removal, etc. Moreover, bearing in mind the typical late onset of retinal detachment in aphakic eyes after congenital cataract surgery with the older methods, such as linear extraction and multiple discussions, special attention is given to this feature as a comparative landmark for a prospective evaluation of recent methods of extracapsular lens surgery.