Premium intraocular lenses use in patients with cataract and concurrent glaucoma: a review.

T he prevalence of cataract and glaucoma increases with age, therefore combined pathology is commonly encountered in elderly. Patients with visual field and optic nerve defects are not straight forward cases. Those who cumu late both conditions present unique functional and structural differences that affect pre, intra and postoperative results. We need to con sider this when selecting intraocular lenses (IOL). There are some characteristics of the patients with coexisting cataract and glaucoma that should be taken into account: the crystalli ne lens can generate various types of secondary gla ucoma (1), hypotensive drugs potentially influence the development of cataract (2,3), cataract decreases the sensitivity of diagnostic tests that document glaucoma progression, glau coma surgery may be associated with increased risk of cataract worsening postoperatively (4), phacoemulsification has a complex and dynamic effect on IOP (5,6). Nowadays, cataract surgery is not anymore synonymous with lens extraction; it evolved in a more refined procedure due to advances in phacoemulsification and IOL technology. Premium IOLs are designed to achieve the best po ssible refractive outcome with restoration of vision for near and distance without spectacles. 