Background: To study a new surgical option of primary placement of a titanium sleeve into hydroxyapatite implants during enucleation or evisceration.
Methods: A standard enucleation or cornea preserved evisceration was performed, followed by preplacement of a titanium sleeve into the hydroxyapatite implant by a hand drill sleeve driver. Care must be taken to ensure that the titanium sleeve is positioned centrally when the implant is put inside the orbital socket or eviscerated shell. The Tenon capsule and conjunctiva were meticulously closed with minimal tension. Complications such as sleeve exposure, coralline exposure, and infection of the titanium sleeve were closely observed.
Results: In all, 30 patients were treated in the above fashion with 10 enucleation and 20 evisceration procedures. The follow-up period ranged from 9 to 24 months. Three of the sleeves were found to have exposed spontaneously at 5 and 7 weeks following original surgery. They had no further complication except one sleeve loosening. The remaining 27 sleeves that did not spontaneously expose pursued secondary exposure of the titanium sleeve and peg insertion by conjunctival cutdown procedure 3 months after original surgery. Two sleeves were found to be oblique positioned after the conjunctival cutdown procedure. Fortunately, all the 30 patients were successfully fit with a peg-coupled prosthesis with good motility.
Conclusion: Primary placement of a titanium sleeve into hydroxyapatite implants has several advantages, including high patient acceptance, technical simplicity, and office-based conjunctival cutdown pegging procedure. By avoiding the expense of postoperative imaging study and additional prosthetic modification, a more rapid and efficient rehabilitation is possible.