Management of epithelial cysts of the anterior chamber.

Epithelial cysts in the anterior chamber are treated only if they obstruct the pupil or cause other serious complications. A closed-eye method is used in aphakic eyes to collapse the cyst and devitalize the epithelial cells using cryotherapy without incising the cyst wall. In phakic eyes, the cyst is dissected away from the cornea and the partially excised through an open-sky approach followed by transscleral cryotherapy to devitalize epithelial remnants. Four of seven eyes operated on with these methods were successfully treated without complications. Persistent cystoid macular edema occurred in two of the other three eyes, and one eye developed a postoperative sheet-like epithelial ingrowth requiring further surgery and resulting in corneal edema. The cyst did not recur in any of these seven eyes.