Sudden corneal edema due to retained lens nuclear fragment presenting 8.5 years after cataract surgery

A 79-year-old woman presented with a 1-week history of sudden onset of decreased vision, pain, and redness in the right eye. Ocular history included uneventful cataract surgery in both eyes more than 8 years prior to presentation. Slitlamp examination revealed significant corneal edema and mild iritis. Gonioscopy revealed a retained lens nuclear fragment in the inferior angle. Surgical removal of the fragment improved the patient's condition. The retained nuclear fragment presumably lodged behind the iris at the time of the initial surgery and spontaneously moved forward more than 8 years later. To our knowledge, this is the longest reported delay between phacoemulsification and presentation of a retained nuclear fragment. Before this case, retained nuclear fragments had been associated with complications within a year of surgery only. We recommend gonioscopy in cases of sudden-onset corneal edema extending to the inferior limbus in patients with a history of phacoemulsification.