The osseointegration technique for the rehabilitation of the exenterated orbit

Osseointegrated implants can be used successfully to support maxillofacial prostheses. Six patients (aged 37 to 80 years; average age, 68 years) underwent orbital exenteration for eyelid neoplasms infiltrating into the orbit. Each patient underwent a two-stage osseointegration procedure in preparation for fitting an orbital prosthesis. In the first stage, three or four bone-anchored fixtures were placed into the bony orbital rim. Skin penetration and abutment placement were performed in the second-stage operation, performed 3 to 6 months later. Successful osseointegration was achieved in 17 (94.4%) of 18 fixtures in five nonirradiated patients. All five patients were successfully fitted with an implant-retained prosthesis. One patient who underwent irradiation lost all four fixtures that had been placed. This patient chose to wear a black patch rather than a conventional prosthesis held in with adhesive. Average follow-up was 16 months for the five patients who were successfully fitted with orbital prostheses (range, 6 to 30 months).