Delayed orbital floor implant complications: Case report and review of the literature

Purpose

Foreign body reaction to non-absorbable alloplastic orbital implants utilized for bony reconstruction are infrequently documented in the literature. We present the workup and surgical management of a giant cystic mass encapsulating a patient's alloplastic orbital implant, which was ultimately deemed to be a result of foreign body reaction.

Observations

A 41-year-old male patient with distant history of a right orbital floor fracture had undergone repair with the placement of a nylon foil implant. The patient presented twenty years later with progressive ipsilateral globe proptosis and was found to have a giant inferior orbital cyst. Surgical exploration and removal of the implant and capsule were performed. Histopathology confirmed a delayed foreign body reaction around the patient's alloplastic implant.

Conclusions

Alloplastic implants may result foreign body reaction and cyst encapsulation as a delayed complication.

Mucocele After Orbital Fracture Repair Masquerading as Optic Neuritis

The authors report a patient of mucocele formation after orbital wall fracture repair masquerading as optic neuritis.A 38-year-old man with a history of medial orbital wall fracture repair with an alloplastic implant 10 years previously, presented with left visual disturbance and mild ocular pain with movement of the left eye of 3-day duration, and a relative afferent papillary defect in his left eye. He reported having cold symptoms 2 weeks before presentation. His symptoms were typical of retrobulbar optic neuritis. Under suspicion of optic neuritis, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging were performed and revealed a large cyst in the sphenoid sinus and ethmoid sinus, just behind the alloplastic implant, that was compressing the medial rectus muscle and optic nerve of the left eye. The patient underwent endoscopic marsupialization of the cyst. Subsequent histologic examinations revealed a cyst lined with ciliated pseudostratified columnar epithelium. The patient had an uncomplicated postoperative course and the visual disturbance resolved. For patients who present solely with optic neuropathy after orbital fracture repair, it is important to be vigilant of potentially rare cause, mucocele formation.