Postoperative inflammation after implantation of the implantable contact lens

Purpose To evaluate postoperative inflammation after implantation of the implantable contact lens (ICL) to treat moderate to high myopia. Design Noncomparative, prospective case series. Participants Five hundred twenty-five eyes of 293 patients with between 3 and 20 diopters of myopia participating in the United States Food and Drug Administration clinical trial of the ICL for myopia. Intervention Implantation of the ICL. Main outcome measures Clinical assessments of anterior chamber flare and cellular reaction for up to 3 years after surgery and laser flare-cell meter measurements for up to 2 years after surgery. Results Clinical flare and cellular reaction was reported as absent in 99.6% to 100% of cases and in no case demonstrated more than trace reaction at all postoperative visits 1 month or more after surgery. In a small subset of the study participants who were tested with the laser flare and cell meter, measurements taken between 3 months and 3 years after surgery were within the normal range. Conclusions The implantation of the ICL does not cause a long-term (2-3 years) inflammatory response within the eye.