Efficacy and Safety of Iris‑Claw Intraocular Lens in Pediatric Ectopia Lentis: A Literature Review

To review current evidence regarding the use of iris‑claw intraocular lens (IOL) in terms of its efficacy and safety in the population of pediatric ectopia lentis.

A comprehensive literature search of six electronic databases (PubMed‑NCBI, Medline‑OVID, Embase, Cochrane, Scopus, and Wiley) and secondary search through reference lists was conducted using keywords selected a priori. All primary studies on the use of iris‑claw in pediatric ectopia lentis that evaluated visual acuity (VA), complications, and endothelial cell density (ECD) were included and critically appraised using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale.

Ten studies were eligible for inclusion with an overall sample size of 168 eyes of children with ectopia lentis, and the majority of studies evaluated anterior iris‑claw IOL. All studies reported improvement in postoperative VA. The most commonly reported complication across studies was IOL decentration. All studies reported decreasing ECD, and this was observed in both anterior and retropupillary iris‑claw IOL.

Current evidence shows that iris‑claw IOL is effective in terms of improving VA in pediatric ectopia lentis. Due to the lack of long‑term evidence of its safety in children, one must remain cautious regarding potential endothelial cell loss. Further high‑quality, interventional, long‑term studies are needed.