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Presents abstracts related to plastic and reconstructive surgery presented at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons 1998 Annual Scientific Congress. 'APERT Syndrome--Management Protocol and Care Mapping,' by D.J. David; 'Orbital and Globe Rotation: The Role of the Periosteum,' by S. Liew, M. Poole et al.

Purpose: Orbital floor blow out fractures can produce diplopia and enophthalmos that require correction by reconstituting the orbital floor defect with implants. The type of implant used has evolved from bone to various synthetic materials. The choice of implant depends upon surgeon, the institution and experience. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the evidence for the implants available for orbital floor reconstitution. Methodology: This study is a literature review of the available evidence for use of implants in orbital floor reconstruction. An evidence based medicine, Cochrane database and Medline search was performed specifically at articles dealing with orbital floor fractures and the type of implant used. The outcomes included diplopia, enophthalmos, re-operation, infection and imaging. Results: There were a total of 19 articles specifically looking at orbital floor fractures and type of implant. Only two of which were comparative trials comparing bone with biodegradable mesh and titanium (Al-Sukhun and Lindqvist 2006 and Ellis and Tan 2003, respectively). These studies suggested not using bone due to operative duration and bone resorption seen on scanning. The remaining articles were case series on outcomes of specifically used implants such as titanium, bone, silicone, and polyethylene. These articles demonstrated that either of the implants is safe and effective to use in orbital floor fractures with the exception of silicone where Laxenaire et al., (1997) demonstrated a 20% extrusion rate. Conclusions: It is safe to use either bone autograft or the various available synthetic materials such as titanium or polyethylene in orbital floor reconstitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]