Chronic subclinical inflammation in phakic eyes with intraocular lenses to correct myopia

Purpose: To evaluate whether either of two anterior chamber intraocular lenses (IOLs) implanted in myopic, phakic eyes induced an inflammatory response that was measurable with a laser flare-cell meter but that could not be measured by other methods. Setting: Jimenez-Diaz Foundation and San Carlos University Hospital, Madrid, Spain. Methods: Thirty eyes with a Worst-Fechner IOL and 30 eyes with a Baikoff ZB5M IOL were evaluated using the flare mode of a laser flare-cell meter. Patients in each group were divided into three subgroups of 10 eyes each according to when the postoperative flare measurements were done: 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months. Thirteen phakic eyes with myopia greater than -6.00 diopters were used as controls. Results: Postoperative flare in the Worst-Fechner group was 27.05 +/- 19 photons per millisecond (photons/ms) (mean +/- SD) at 12 months, 18.09 +/- 17.38 photons/ms at 18 months, and 31.03 +/- 28.8 photons/ms at 24 months. Postoperative flare in the Baikoff group was 21.1 +/- 5.9 photons/ms at 12 months, 16.13 +/- 8.3 photons/ms at 18 months, and 21.05 +/- 23.5 photons/ms at 24 months. Flare in the control group was 4.24 +/- 2.8 photons/ms. Postoperative flare values were significantly higher in both IOL groups than in the control group at all follow-ups (Mann-Whitney test, P < .05). Postoperative flare values in the Worst-Fechner group were higher than in the Baikoff group at 12, 18, and 24 months, although the difference was not significant (Mann-Whitney test, P > .05). Conclusions: Our study shows chronic subclinical inflammation between 1 and 2 years after implantation of both IOL types.