Forces affecting orbital floor reconstruction materials – A cadaver study

Abstract Introduction The objectives of this study were: (i) to evaluate the applied force and the displacement of the orbital contents after orbital floor reconstruction using artificially aged reconstruction materials in fresh frozen human heads and (ii) to analyze the puncture strength of the materials. Material and methods Six fresh frozen human heads were used, and orbital floor defects in the right and left orbit were created by 3.0 J direct impacts on the globe and infraorbital rim. The orbital floor defect sizes and displacements were evaluated after a Le-Fort-I osteotomy. Results The orbital floor defect sizes were 208.3(SD, 33.4) mm 2 for the globe impacts and 221.8(SD, 53.1) mm 2 for the infraorbital impacts. The forces on the incorporated materials were approximately 0.003 N and 0.03 N for the PDS-foil and collagen membrane, respectively. The displacements of the materials were +0.9 mm and +0.7 mm for the PDS-foil and collagen membrane, respectively. The puncture strengths of the PDS-foil and collagen membrane decreased from approximately 70 N and 12 N at week 1 to approximately 5 N and 1.5 N at week 8 of artificial aging. Conclusion The force applied to the orbital content is minimal, and the puncture strengths of the artificially aged materials are more than sufficient for the measured forces.