Patients suffering from facial palsy with affected eyelids now have a more aesthetic and less complicated upper eyelid implant called the platinum
Patients suffering from facial palsy with affected eyelids now have a more aesthetic and less complicated upper eyelid implant called the platinum chain. Earlier options which included rigid gold implants had many complications like bulging, incomplete eyelid closure, corneal abnormalities, and loss of visual acuity associated with it. The new platinum chain is more flexible and adapts better to the changing size of the surrounding ocular tissue with movement of the eye. It's also denser, which allows a smaller implant to be used relative to gold.
Researchers from the Martin-Luther University in Halle, Germany, conducted a comparative study of the complication rates and aesthetic improvement in 33 patients receiving rigid gold implantations to those with 30 flexible platinum chain implantations. They measured the degree of eyelid closure, corneal abnormalities, gain of visual acuity, bulging, migration of implant, and the extrusion of implants of patients in both groups. Authors reported that 89 per cent of all patients who received the platinum chain implant graded the results as good or very good. Also, these implants lead to better results with fewer complications compared to standard rigid gold implants.
