THE BASEBALL ORBITAL IMPLANT - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

The 'baseball' orbital implant was described by Frueh and Felker in 19 76. Although this implant was originally described for use as a second ary implant, it has also been widely used as a primary implant at the time of enucleation. This prospective study evaluated the effectivenes s of this implant used both primarily and secondarily. Forty-four pati ents were implanted between April 1990 and May 1991, 19 of the implant s being primary and 25 secondary. A standardised operative and post-op erative protocol was followed. The mean follow-up lime was 31 months ( range 23-36 months). The patients were evaluated for the degree of vol ume replacement, implant and associated prosthesis motility, secondary eyelid and socket problems, patient satisfaction, the need for furthe r surgery and post-operative complications. The overall results achiev ed by primary implantation were superior to those of secondary implant ation. Our results suggest that this implant provides a satisfactory f unctional and cosmetic rehabilitation of the anophthalmic patient with few complications.