Background factors determining the time to intraocular lens dislocation.

Purpose: To clarify the characteristics of intraocular lens (IOL) dislocation requiring IOL suture or intraocular scleral fixation.

Methods: This retrospective consecutive case series included 21 eyes (21 patients) who required sutured or sutureless intrascleral IOL fixation following IOL extraction owing to IOL dislocation at the outpatient clinic in the Department of Ophthalmology, Saitama Red Cross Hospital, Japan, between January and December 2019. Medical records were retrospectively reviewed for background diseases, location of the dislocated IOL (intracapsular/extracapsular), insertion of a capsular tension ring (CTR), and the period from IOL insertion to dislocation.

Results: We included 21 eyes of 21 patients who required IOL suture or intrascleral fixation for IOL dislocation at our clinic from January to December 2019 were included. The most common background disease was pseudoexfoliation syndrome (four cases), followed by atopic dermatitis, dysplasia/dehiscence of the zonule, post-retinal detachment surgery, high myopia, and uveitis (three cases each). At the time of dislocation, the IOLs were either intracapsular (16 cases, including 3 cases with CTR insertion) or extracapsular (5 cases). The time from IOL insertion to IOL dislocation was 13.7 ± 8.1 years (maximum: 31.3 years, minimum: 1.7 years).

Conclusions: In this study, all 21 cases represented late IOL dislocations occurring after 3 months postoperatively. Among these late IOL dislocation cases, IOL dislocation occurred in a short-medium period of time, especially in those with CTR insertion and weakness/dehiscence of the zonule, with an average of 3 to 5 years postoperatively. We propose referring to these cases as intermediate-term IOL dislocation.