EyeRounds Online Atlas of Ophthalmology

Contributor: William Charles Caccamise, Sr, MD, Retired Clinical Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

*Dr. Caccamise has very generously shared his images of patients taken while operating during the "eye season" in rural India as well as those from his private practice during the 1960's and 1970's. Many of his images are significant for their historical perspective and for techniques and conditions seen in settings in undeveloped areas.

Category: Cataract

True-exfoliation of the anterior lens capsule

Evident after intracapsular cataract surgery, True-exfoliation of the anterior capsule of the lens is evident in this photo. A definite " scroll " or " roll of parchment " is easily seen dangling in the pupil area and the anterior chamber.

" The anterior most layers of the anterior lens capsule split off into one or more sheets that curl into the anterior chamber. The exfoliated lamellas frequently can be seen clinically as a " scroll "on tha anterior surface of the lens, waving in the aqueous. A senile or aging form ot true exfoliation of the lens capsule that does not seem to be related to infrared heat is currently the most common type of true exfoliation seen in the Unites States. " from Yanoff and Fine's: Ocular Pathology. Seen poorly in the photo is such a true scroll. Slit-lamp examination revealed the scroll clearly.

Ophthalmic Atlas Images by EyeRounds.org, The University of Iowa are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.