Implantable phakic contact lens: vault evaluation 5 years postoperatively.

Purpose: To evaluate the stability of the postoperative vault of the implantable phakic contact lens (IPCL) 5 years after implantation.

Setting: Clínica de Ojos Dr. Nano, Olivos, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Design: Retrospective case-series study.

Methods: Myopic patients operated with the IPCL for spherical correction in which preoperative data were compared with different scenarios of postoperative vault at 1, 3, and 5 years postoperatively. The main parameter to be evaluated was the vault obtained 5 years postoperatively.

Results: 140 eyes of 72 patients, aged 31.9 ± 2.8 years (21 to 50), were included. Most of the eyes (78.6%) obtained a vault between 250 μm and 750 μm, while in 15% of the eyes, it was less than 250 μm, and 6.4% were greater than 750 μm. The vault evaluated 1, 3, and 5 years postoperatively remained stable. Subcapsular cataracts were detected in 2 eyes, with vault <250 μm. A total of 50 eyes (35.7%) had cysts in the sulcus (5 cases in the group of eyes with vault >750 μm). No changes were detected in relation to intraocular pressure or endothelial cell count.

Conclusions: In eyes implanted with the IPCL over 5 years, it was observed that the vault remained stable over time. The proportion of eyes with cysts was higher in eyes with vaults larger than 750 μm.