Purpose: To describe the surgical technique of harvesting frontal bone periosteum, through an eyelid-crease incision, for coverage of orbital implants.
Methods: A retrospective review of the medical records of 15 patients who underwent the procedure.
Results: Eleven patients had surgery to cover exposed orbital implants, whereas in 4 patients the periosteal graft was used as an implant cover during enucleation. Periosteal grafts as large as 25 mm in diameter can be harvested. Recurrent exposure developed in 2 patients who had complicated histories of local trauma. One of these patients required a secondary dermis-fat graft, and the other experienced spontaneous granulation. The remaining 13 patients had excellent results without complications.
Conclusion: Harvesting frontal bone periosteum, through an eyelid-crease incision, for orbital implant coverage is a relatively straightforward surgical technique. The procedure can be performed in the office under local anesthesia and yields excellent results. Recurrent exposure occurred only in 2 patients with histories of significant local trauma.