Case Series: Slight Intraocular Lens Malpositioning as a Potential Cause of Vision Loss.

SIGNIFICANCE: The cases illustrate an insidious cause of decreased visual acuity after cataract surgery.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify cases of postoperative vision loss caused by slight intraocular lens (IOL) malpositioning after cataract surgery.

CASE REPORTS: Three patients presented with visual acuity decreased after cataract surgery. Silt-lamp examination before mydriasis revealed no abnormalities in two of the patients; mild IOL inferonasal decentration was found by the trifocal IOL diffraction ring in the third patient. Manifest refraction of these patients showed remarkable astigmatism with low corneal astigmatism. After pupil dilation, slight IOL decentration and tilt were observed in all patients, which were further confirmed using the Scheimpflug imaging system. Wavefront aberrometry showed a high level of ocular higher-order aberrations, most of which were derived from intraocular aberrations.

CONCLUSIONS

Inconspicuous IOL malpositioning is one of the reasons responsible for decreased vision acuity after cataract surgery, which may not be easily identified by slit-lamp examination. High astigmatism and ocular higher-order aberrations derived from malpositioned IOL can be important clues.