intraocular lens calcification: a clinico-pathological report and review of literature

purpose: to report the clinico-pathologic features of an opacified single-piece hydrophilic acrylic intraocular lens (iol). patient and findings: a 48-year-old male patient was evaluated for glare and markedly decreased vision in his left eye four years after phacoemulsification and implantation of a single-piece hydrophilic acrylic iol (ophthalmed). best-corrected visual acuity was 20/60 and there was diffuse milky white opalescence of the iol on slitlamp biomicroscopy. iol explantation and exchange was performed and the explanted iol was evaluated at the eye bank pathology laboratory by light microscopy. full-thickness sections of the optic were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (h&e;), von kossa and gram twort’s staining methods. gross examination of the iol disclosed opacification of the optic and haptics. microscopic analysis of the sections revealed diffuse fine basophilic granular deposits of variable size within the lens optic parallel to the lens curvature with a clear zone from the optic surface. the deposits were of high calcium content based on the dark brown appearance on von kossa staining. conclusion: this is the first clinico-pathological report of iol calcification with involvement of optic and haptics in iran. iol exchange is an effective treatment in cases with calcified hydrogel iols.