Complications of hypermature cataract: spontaneous absorption of lens material and phacolytic glaucoma-associated retinal perivasculitis.

Uncommon complications of hypermature cataract in two aged patients are described. One patients, a 58-year-old woman, with unilateral hypermature cataract secondary to Fuchs' heterochromic cyclitis developed spontaneous absorption of the lens material, followed by its dislocation into the anterior chamber. The other patient, a 63-year-old woman, showed phacolytic glaucoma associated with extensive retinal perivasculitis which concurred with leakage of hypermature cataractous lens material and subsided with its complete absorption. Histopathology of the membraneous cataract revealed degenerative changes of the capsule and extinction of the epithelial cells and cortical fibers.