A NEW MATERIAL IN PTOSIS SURGERY WITH BRO W SUSPENSION - WIDE POROUS EXPANDED POLYTETRA-FLUOROETHYLENE

Background In brow suspension, there is agreement that fresh tissue (a utogenous fascia lata or temporalis fascia) provides the best results in terms of low complications and duration of the effect. Yet, the mor bidity of fresh tissue harvesting is not negligible. Many alternative materials have disadvantages in terms of duration of the procedure and side effects. Methods We have used a Mew material : wide porous expan ded polytetrafluoroethylene (eP.T.F.E.). This material is an inert vit reous teflon alloplast with a high biocompatibility. It is close to Go re-Tex(R), but differs from it by a higher porosity (over 90%) and wid er diameter of its pores (over 50 mu). We performed a series of 60 bro w suspension from February 1992 to March 1994, using this new material . Results We did not encounter any significant complications due to th e material and in circumstance, we did Mot deplore any migration, infe ction or extrusion of the ePTFE. The biocompatibility seems to be incr eased as it has been demonstrated by light and electron microscopy of the implanted material who revealed that fibrovascular ingrowth was si gnificantly achieve two months after surgery. Conclusion The first res ults of this series are very encouraging. They can favourably be compa red with the results of other series using different types of material s available in brow suspension. Through our longest follow-up is 30 mo nths, further study is necessary to evaluate the long term results and eventual long term side effects of ePTFE, which avoid harvesting fres h tissues, thus reducing the brow suspension procedure's morbidity.