A preliminary report on the Universal Implant.

Extrusion and time-consuming surgical techniques required of implantation have been the major criticisms of quasi-integrated implants such as the Iowa Implant. With these concerns in mind, the Universal Implant (Oculo-Plastik, Montreal) has been designed to offer the motility advantages seen with quasi-integrated implants and the ease of placement of a sphere. The Universal Implant incorporates most of the advantages seen in the Iowa Implant and other quasi-integrated implants. In addition, the Universal Implant (1) utilizes a faster surgical technique for implantation; (2) avoids cleaning the muscles; (3) has lower, more rounded, smaller mounds that should decrease the late extrusion rate; (4) can be used as an enucleation implant, evisceration implant, or secondary implant; and (5) has a greater girth and larger radius of the posterior surface that helps support orbital fat and tissues, resulting in a more natural superior sulcus. Considering that the Iowa Implant is presently not available, the Universal Implant should be used by those surgeons who were pleased with the former implant and should be considered as a reasonable alternative to other enucleation implants.