Evaluation of changes in axial length after congenital cataract surgery.

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between lens status and axial length (AL) in patients operated for unilateral and bilateral congenital cataract.

Setting: Yüzüncü Yıl University, Ophthalmology Clinic, Van, Turkey.

Design: Retrospective study.

Methods: Records of patients who underwent surgery for unilateral or bilateral congenital cataract were analyzed. The patients were separated into three groups: bilateral aphakic, bilateral pseudophakic, and unilateral. The unilateral group was subdivided into the operated cataract eyes (unilateral aphakic and unilateral pseudophakic) and unoperated fellow phakic eyes. The patients' age at surgery, follow-up time, preoperative and postoperative AL measurements, change in AL, and monthly growth rate were evaluated.

Results: The bilateral aphakic group included 40 eyes of 20 patients, the bilateral pseudophakic group included 103 eyes of 54 patients, and the unilateral group included 40 eyes of 20 patients. The mean age at time of surgery in these groups was 8.17 months ± 10.65 (SD), 42.47 ± 43.81 months, and 42.47 ± 43.81 months, respectively. There were no significant differences in preoperative AL, postoperative AL, change in AL, or monthly growth rate between the aphakic and fellow phakic eyes in the unilateral group (P > .05). There were also no significant differences between unilateral pseudophakic eyes and fellow phakic eyes in the unilateral group with respect to preoperative AL or change in AL, but there were significant differences in final AL and monthly growth rate (P < .05).

Conclusions: Various factors can affect axial elongation. The monthly growth rate was lower in pseudophakic eyes compared with phakic eyes. Experimental studies are required to understand the mechanism underlying this effect.