Damage to the corneal endothelium from anterior chamber intraocular lenses in phakic myopic eyes.

The use of minus power anterior chamber intraocular lenses to correct myopia in phakic eyes has been demonstrated previously to produce a more accurate and predictable correction than corneal refractive surgery techniques. We have examined 15 such eyes by specular microscopy and 10 such eyes by Scheimpflug slit-lamp micrography. One year after surgery, in 5 (36.3%) eyes, there was a decrease of more than 20% in the central endothelial density. Paracentral endothelial damage was present in 13 eyes (86.6%). On the specular micrograph, this damage appeared as an overall decrease in the number of the cells, abnormal cell shape with marked pleomorphism, dark zones, and acellular zones that corresponded to endothelial defects. The slit-lamp anterior segment measurements showed a distance between the edges of the IOL optic and the endothelium which ranged from 0.71 to 1.50 mm. We discuss the criteria for intraocular lens removal.