Damage to the corneal endothelium by minus power anterior chamber intraocular lenses.

We present 16 phakic myopic eyes (from -10.00 to -25.00 diopters) corrected by minus power intraocular lenses implanted in the anterior chamber whose corneal endothelium was observed by specular microscopy during a postoperative period from 6 to 18 months. Significant morphologic endothelial changes were noted in three eyes along the border of the lens optic. Around dark zones, which appeared acellular, endothelial cells were enlarged, deformed, and separated. These findings may be produced by intermittent contact between the endothelium and lens. Corneal indentation during specular microscopy occasionally caused a curvilinear reflection which corresponded to the optic border. In three eyes, dark areas without cellular abnormality were observed near the curved edge of the lens. These findings probably resulted from the disturbance of the specular reflection on part of the endothelium due to this edge.