Objective: The incidence, refractive characters, operative results and the situations of intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in a series of eyes with very long axial length (> or = 27.00 mm) were analyzed.
Methods: According to the measurements of preoperative axial length and the degree of implanted IOL, the eyes with lengths of 27.00 mm or more selected from 1,000 eyes of consecutive senile cataract surgery were included in this group. The eyes requiring + 3.00D or more IOL were implanted with IOL. Simple extracapsular cataract extraction was performed on eyes requiring <+3.00D or negative lens. The postoperative follow-up was 20.0 +/- 8.5 months.
Results: There were 81 eyes in this group with a range of axial length of 27.00-34.71 mm and an average corneal curvature of 43.91 +/- 1.81D. The range of IOL power for these eyes was +11.30-11.57D (mean, +2.10 +/- 5.41D). The average axial length of 39 eyes with IOL implantation was 28.04 +/- 0.68 mm and their postoperative corrected visual acuities (PCVA) in 82.1% of eyes were 10/20 or more. The average length of 42 eyes without IOL implantation was 31.68 +/- 1.47 mm and the PCVAs in 42.9% of the eyes were 10/20 or more.
Conclusions: The myopia with very long axial length is quite common in China. Its operative complications are not frequently seen. The cause of its poor PCVA is due to its pathologic changes in the fundus and the PCVA becomes worse as its axial length is increasing. An IOL with negative power is sometimes necessary for a myopic eye with very long axis.