Early gold weight lid implant for rehabilitation of faulty eyelid closure with facial paralysis: an alternative to tarsorrhaphy.

Although tarsorrhaphy has been the mainstay of treatment for lagophthalmus associated with facial paralysis, it has many drawbacks which make it a less than ideal procedure. Gold weight implantation is a functionally and cosmetically superior alternative in many patients. Eighteen patients with both reversible and irreversible facial (eyelid) paralysis underwent early gold weight implantation for rehabilitation of faulty eyelid closure with satisfactory results. The advantages and disadvantages of this technique, when compared with other methods of correcting paralytic lagophthalmus, are discussed.