[Tarsus-plasty with chondroplasty].

For a few years new Chondroplast has been available as a ready-to-use product in a variety of different shapes and sizes. The material is obtained from bovine cartilage and is made antigen-free and stable against decomposition by treatment with glutaraldehyde and irradiation. To date we have used Chondroplast for lid stabilization in 9 eyes with very slack entropion or ectropion. For tarsusplasty secondary to tumor resection we chose Chondroplast for seven eyes. A thin 0.5-mm-thick lamella was cut out of the original material and positioned in a preformed pocket between the orbicularis muscle and the skin and conjunctiva and then fixed with Vicryl sutures. Corrective of eyelid malposition was combined with pentagonal excision for ectropion, or resection of the orbicularis muscle for entropion. In plastic lid replacement the material was sutured to the existing wound edges of the lid margin and covered posteriorly with conjunctiva and anteriorly with advancement or transposed flaps. In all patients the implant took well, and there were no complications during wound healing. The cosmetic and functional results were satisfactory. The largest post-operation follow-up time was over 1 year. In one case--1 year after resection of a lower eyelid basalioma--we had the opportunity to examine histologically the tissue in the area of a Chondroplast implant. We performed this biopsy excision because of a suspected recurrence. Macroscopically the implanted cartilage lamella was surrounded by a barely vascularized capsule. Histologically we found a non-vital cartilage implant surrounded by a mainly fibrotic connective tissue capsule. In only a few places was there evidence of a slight reaction to the foreign body but without substantial inflammation activity. There was also no histological indication of resorption of the implant.