Abscess of the Crystalline Lens

Lens Abces: A Case Report

“…Copyrights @ Aymen Abdeljilil, et al Open Acc J Oncol Med 332 operation, especially when the infection has been well controlled before surgery [7].In our case we proceeded by a phacemulsification with implantation in the capsular bag of a lens implant with a good postoperative evolution without recurrence of the infection and a final visual acuity at 8/10.The prognosis for lenticular abscesses has literally changed; these infections previously reported as blinding in the first descriptions [1] can nowadays be perfectly treated [2,7,8] thanks to the development of anti-infectious agents and especially to eye surgery, thus phacoemulsification allows at the same time drain the abscess and treat an associated post-traumatic cataract.…”

“…Lens abscesses are rare infections [2] that infiltrate the lenticular substance in the lens, these abscesses may occur after cataract surgery, metastatic infection, or trauma [3][4][5].Post traumatic lens abscesses are often caused by long, pointed and contaminated objects such as needles and thorns with direct inoculation into the lens cortex [2], this type of trauma is common in agricultural workers, as for our patient, the trauma was caused by a cactus thorn while working in the field.Although the lens is damaged in about 30% of the perforating lesions of the eyeball and 10% of all intraocular foreign bodies are found in the lens, lens lenticular abscesses are exceptional [6], this is probably due to protective effect of the anterior lens capsule.Busacca in its experimental studies has proven that the crystalline cortex constitutes an excellent place of culture for the germs and that the infection of the lens is only possible if the anterior or posterior capsule is perforated [1], if this capsular rupture is less than 2 millimeters in length, this can heal with the proliferation of epithelial cells in the lens. Indeed a certain number of reported cases in which intralenticular foreign bodies have remained in the lens for decades with little reaction or cataract formation [6]The lens capsule not only constitutes a barrier against infectious agents but also against the penetration of antibiotics and antifungals into the lens [2][3][4][5][6][7], thus surgical drainage of this sequestered infection is necessary after control of the initial inflammation [7]The majority of authors report a latency time between the trauma and the consultation for lens abscess ranging from a few weeks to a few months [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], this latency was 2 weeks for our patient.The most frequent causative agent is staphylococcus epidermidis [2,8], other microorganisms have been reported in the literature such as pseudomonas [2], pneumococcus [1], Propionibacterium acnes [6] as well as type of aspergillus [2], bu...…”

“…Lesions of the lens are frequent during perforating trauma of the eye, in the majority of cases it is post traumatic cataract, however some cases of lens abscess have been reported in the literature and occur when a purulent infiltration develops inside the crystalline cortex [1].It is important to recognize this sequestered infection and to remove the abscess surgically to prevent chronic endophthalmitis.We report the case of an intra lenticular lens abscess treated surgically by phacoemulsification with good postoperative results.…”