Intraocular optical quality of phakic intraocular lenses: comparison of angle-supported, iris-fixated, and posterior chamber lenses

Purpose: To evaluate internal aberrometric profiles following phakic intraocular lens (PIOL) implantation.

Design: Retrospective and consecutive case series.

Methods: One hundred and five eyes of 65 patients were included. The optical aberrations were measured with the Topcon KR-1W aberrometer. Comparisons of internal aberrations for different models were made. Comparisons at 4 and 6 mm were made also within the same model for all the lenses. Comparisons regarding the implantation site were also performed: angle-supported (AS) anterior chamber (AC) (n = 47), iris-fixated (IF) (n = 27), and posterior chamber (PC) (n = 31).

Results: Root mean square (RMS) of internal optical higher-order aberrations (HOAs) changed significantly to higher values from 4-6 mm aperture diameter in each PIOL, as should be expected. However, this significant change was not detected in spherical aberration for Kelman Duet (P = .753) and in trefoil for Acrysoft (P = .059). Kelman lens showed significantly lower values of spherical aberration compared to Acrysoft at 4 mm (P = .022) and at 6 mm (P = .042). Acrysoft showed the lowest values at central zone for trefoil (P = .043) and tetrafoil (P = .002) in AC group. In the IF group, Artisan and Artiflex showed similar results for all internal aberrations. In the comparison between Visian Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL; STAAR Surgical Co, Monrovia, California, USA) and phakic refractive lens (PRL), both for posterior chamber, significantly lower values of coma were observed for ICL (P = .033). IF lenses showed clinical evidence, but not significant, of better centering capability than AS lenses (P = .096).

Conclusions: The study of intraocular aberrations is an adequate method to identify the clinical optical behavior and could help the surgeon to identify the most frequent problems related with each model.