Corneal endothelial loss with new intraocular lenses.

When we compared the effect of a hydrogel intraocular lens on the corneal endothelium of rabbits to the damage produced by uncoated methylmethacrylate intraocular lenses and methylmethacrylate lenses coated with sodium hyaluronate or methylcellulose, we found that the endothelial damage produced by the hydrogel lenses in a standard 0.25 mm2 of contact was 3.6%. This value was not significantly different from that for the control corneas (0.4%). Uncoated methylmethacrylate lenses caused 62% endothelial loss but coating them with sodium hyaluronate or methylcellulose reduced the loss to 27% and 57% respectively. The results suggested that a hydrogel intraocular lens produces minimal endothelial damage and that coating a methylmethacrylate lens with sodium hyaluronate or methylcellulose does not provide reliable endothelial protection.