Anterior chamber depth variability between 2 hydrophobic acrylic 1-piece intraocular lenses: randomized trial.

Purpose: To analyze the difference in anterior chamber depth (ACD) after uneventful cataract surgery between 2 hydrophobic acrylic 1-piece intraocular lenses (IOLs) with different material properties.

Setting: Hanusch Hospital, Vienna, Austria.

Design: Single-center, bilateral randomized paired-eye controlled study.

Methods: Patients scheduled for bilateral cataract surgery were randomized to receive the Clareon IOL in 1 eye and the AcrySof IQ IOL (both Alcon Laboratories, Inc.) in the contralateral eye. Preoperatively, a slitlamp examination, optical biometry (IOLMaster 700, Carl Zeiss Meditec AG), refraction, and visual acuity measurements were performed. ACD was assessed 1 hour and 1 week postoperatively and with additional measurement of uncorrected (UDVA) and corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) 6 months postoperatively.

Results: 80 eyes of 40 patients were analyzed in this study. ACD at the 6-month follow-up was 3.94 ± 0.30 mm for the Clareon IOL and 3.91 ± 0.32 mm for the AcrySof IQ IOL (P = .08). Statistically significant differences in the ACD shift between both IOLs were detected between 1 week and 6 months (P = .04) and 1 hour and 6 months (P = .04). There were no statistically significant differences between both IOLs in UDVA (P = .78), CDVA (P = .59), and spherical equivalent (SE, P = .39) at the 6-month visit. The mean absolute error between the measured and the aimed SE was not significant (P = .97).

Conclusions: There was no clinically relevant difference in ACD between the Clareon IOL and the AcrySof IQ IOL in patients after uneventful cataract surgery. Both IOLs yielded good refraction and visual acuity outcomes.