[Conjunctival sac of anophthalmic orbits]

Reconstruction of the conjunctival sac is never a simple procedure. It is a question of positioning a prosthesis in the orbital cavity which will have no anatomic support, as the eye has been enucleated, reduced to a stump (microphthalmos) or has been replaced by an implant that has just been expelled. All described techniques consist in enlarging the existing conjunctival sac, and then positioning a mucosal or dermo-epidermical graft in the orbital cavity maintained by a conformer. In order to limit the effects of the inevitable retraction during the first weeks following surgery, operative enlargement beyond the needs of the conjunctival sac is essential. The conformer should be supported by tarsorraphy until the phenomenon of retraction has reached an end (4 to 6 months). The problem of the "orbital cavity" must be understood so that indications for surgical remodelling of the conjunctival sac can be established. This is simple after enucleation, but more complex in the case of a microphthalmos, an injury, or an exenteration of the orbit where remodelling represents only the last operative stage after bone remodelling, or lids remodelling and sometimes transposition of the temporalis muscle in the socket.