Bilateral spontaneous dislocation of intraocular lenses within the capsular bag in a retinitis pigmentosa patient.

A 45-year-old man with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), who had undergone uneventful extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) in his right eye eight years previously, and phacoemulsification in his left eye six years previously, had spontaneously dislocated intraocular lenses (IOL) within the capsular bag in both eyes one month apart. We removed the dislocated IOLs, and performed anterior vitrectomy and scleral fixation of the new IOLs. Mild contraction of the capsular bags and uneven distribution of the zonular remnants' clumps along the equator of the capsules were found by scanning electron microscopic (SEM) examination. In this study, we propose the correlation between RP and zonular weakness. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of bilateral spontaneous dislocation of IOLs within the capsular bag of an RP patient.