Artificial iris-intraocular lens implantation for traumatic aniridia and aphakia assisted by silicone oil retention sutures

An 83-year-old pseudophakic woman fell and sustained an open-globe injury to her left eye with traumatic aniridia, aphakia, and a total retinal detachment. Visual acuity was light perception. After primary repair of the ruptured globe, the retina was reattached using silicone oil tamponade with placement of silicone oil retention sutures to prevent the oil from touching the corneal endothelium. Three months later, the oil was removed and with glare, aphakic correction improved the patient's visual acuity to 20/80(-1). A scleral-fixated artificial iris-intraocular lens (IOL) was subsequently implanted. During placement of the IOL through a temporal corneoscleral beveled incision into the anterior chamber, the silicone oil retention sutures supported the optic as it was scleral fixated. The retention sutures aided in the placement of the IOL and prevented it from subluxating and/or dislocating during surgery. Postoperatively, the corrected visual acuity was 20/50(-2).