This orbital sphere or implant remains permanently
A prosthetic eye can be made 6-8 weeks later by an ocularist
contrast with Evisceration
Evisceration
Only the contents of the eye (iris, lens, vitreous, retina, and choroid) are removed
The leaves behind a pocket of sclera.
Improved motility:
because the muscles that control eye movement remain attached to the sclera
Sclera is filled with an orbital implant or sphere.
The sphere may be made of MEDPOR®, PMMA or hydroxyapatite material.
This orbital sphere or implant remains permanently
A prosthetic eye can be made 6-8 weeks later by an ocularist
Contrast with ENUCLEATION
Exenteration
An exenteration removes the entire ORBITAL contents, the eye, the muscles which control eye movement, and generally the eyelids.
Since the orbit is empty, implants are more difficult to create
Some may be attached to eyeglasses, others to the orbit with the help of magnets
The patient above (left) had recurrent basal cell carcinoma invade his orbit. The photo on the right, shows the muscle flap rotated down, covering the inner wall of the orbit. Not there is no soft tissue within the orbit.
The patient to the right, was diagnosed with sinus-orbital-melanoma.
She underwent exenteration and had a prosethesis made of the eye, eyelid and surrounding tissues to avoid the need to wear glasses with built in prosthesis.
Note, this fits in the orbit (such as the orbit show above, right), with the aid of magnets.
Etiology
Anophthalmia ( A medical term used to describe the absence of the globe and ocular tissue from the orbit ) can be congenital (present at birth) or acquired later in life. Congenital anophthalmia can occur alone or along with other birth defects. Cases of Anophthalmia may result from inherited genetic mutations, sporadic genetic mutations, chromosome abnormalities, prenatal environmental insult or unknown.
born without eye. (Anophthalmia is very rare but the exact incidence is unknown. One report from a prospective study of 50,000 newborns found an incidence of microphthalmia of 0.22 per 1,000 live births)
trauma
infection
tumor (such as retinoblastoma, choroidal malignant melanoma)
