A review of 34 patients with congential, traumatic iatrogenic aniridia who had surgery to implant artificial irises has found:
- No repositioning of prostheses was necessary.
- In cases of keratopathy (17.6 %) visual function increased from baseline mean.
- The remaining iris tissue darkened during the follow-up in 23.5 % (83.3 % with and 10.7 % without mesh),
- 8.8 % developed glaucoma (50 % with and 0 % without mesh)
- 14.7 % needed consecutive surgery (50 % with and 7.1 % without mesh)
Conclusions
Good clinical outcome in terms of long-term stability, cosmetic appearance, visual function, and represents a good functional iris diaphragm for compartmentalisation.
Complications such as glaucoma, darkening of iris tissue, and need for consecutive anterior segment surgery are clearly associated with implants with integrated fiber mesh, but not to those without.
Hence, the use of full iris prostheses without embedded fiber mesh, even in cases with remnant iris, and the use of slightly smaller implants than officially recommended may be beneficial.
