short-term results of iris-claw phakic intraocular lenses for myopia

purpose: to evaluate the predictability, efficacy, and safety of iris-claw artisanô phakic intraocular lenses ­for myopia. methods: through a prospective clinical study, 35 eyes of 21 patients with myopia from -5 to 26.5 diopters underwent implantation of the artisan lens. patients were examined 1, 3, and 7 days (all eyes); 1 month (28 eyes), 3 months (29 eyes), and 6 months (32 eyes) after the procedure. a thorough ophthalmic examination including endothelial cell count, pachymetry, and topography was performed before and after the operation. results: mean age of the patients was 31.6 years (range, 18-43). mean spherical equivalent (se) changed from -15.71±4.90 diopters (d) before surgery to -0.65±0.94 d at 1 month, -0.58±1.10 d at 3 months, and -0.56±0.89 d 6 months after surgery. at 6 months, 15 eyes (46.9%) had uncorrected visual acuity of 20/40 or better and 23 eyes (71.9%) had se within ±1.00 d of emmetropia. two eyes lost 1 line and two eyes lost 2 lines of best-corrected visual acuity (bcva), no eye lost more than 3 lines. twenty-one eyes (65.6%) gained one to three lines of bcva. mean endothelial cell count changed from 2889 at baseline to 2823 at three months (p= 0.002). there was no significant change in corneal pachymetry. sterile endophthalmitis was seen in 4 eyes 1.5 months postoperatively which was treated successfully by corticosteroid therapy. no angle closure glaucoma or ocular hypertension was seen at postoperative visits. conclusion: implantation of artisan phakic lens was found to be predictable and efficient for correction of myopia. its effect on corneal endothelium should be considered and more investigations are recommended.