PURPOSE: To evaluate visual results, refractive error and complications in a series of congenital cataracts treated with different surgical techniques. METHODS: Retrospective review of 51 eyes with congenital cataracts which were surgically treated between 1989 and 2005. Eleven were unilateral cataracts and 40 were bilateral cataracts. Thirty-three eyes were treated with a primary intraocular lens (IOL) and 18 were aphakic eyes. RESULTS: The best outcomes were observed in bilateral cataracts and in those that received early primary IOL. Three eyes achieved 0.8-1, two eyes achieved 0.6-0.7. All of them were eyes with primary IOL. Seventeen percent of unilateral cataracts and 23.8% of bilateral cataracts achieved 0.4 or better. The most serious complication was visual axis opacification (VAO), 27 of 51 eyes developed VAO. Fifty percent of eyes with primary IOL and 63% of aphakic eyes developed VAO. The VAO developed sooner in the IOL group (6.5 months on average). There was a high myopic shift in 3 eyes. There was a significantly greater myopic shift in the unilateral cases. CONCLUSIONS: The best acuities were achieved in the eyes which had been treated with early primary IOL, but they had a higher rate of complications (VAO), thus requiring reoperation. Final refraction in the unilateral group was significantly more myopic than in the bilateral group.
PURPOSE: To evaluate visual results, refractive error and complications in a series of congenital cataracts treated with different surgical techniques. METHODS: Retrospective review of 51 eyes with congenital cataracts which were surgically treated between 1989 and 2005. Eleven were unilateral cataracts and 40 were bilateral cataracts. Thirty-three eyes were treated with a primary intraocular lens (IOL) and 18 were aphakic eyes. RESULTS: The best outcomes were observed in bilateral cataracts and in those that received early primary IOL. Three eyes achieved 0.8-1, two eyes achieved 0.6-0.7. All of them were eyes with primary IOL. Seventeen percent of unilateral cataracts and 23.8% of bilateral cataracts achieved 0.4 or better. The most serious complication was visual axis opacification (VAO), 27 of 51 eyes developed VAO. Fifty percent of eyes with primary IOL and 63% of aphakic eyes developed VAO. The VAO developed sooner in the IOL group (6.5 months on average). There was a high myopic shift in 3 eyes. There was a significantly greater myopic shift in the unilateral cases. CONCLUSIONS: The best acuities were achieved in the eyes which had been treated with early primary IOL, but they had a higher rate of complications (VAO), thus requiring reoperation. Final refraction in the unilateral group was significantly more myopic than in the bilateral group.