Histopathologic condition of fascia lata implant 42 years after ptosis repair.

Fascia lata implants have been employed since the early part of this century in the repair of blepharoptosis. Although much has been written concerning surgical techniques and results of implanting different preparations of fascia lata, there are relatively few reports of long-term histopathologic follow-up of recovered tissue. In the case described herein, autogenous fascia lata was recovered at the time of repeated surgery and examined 42 years later. On microscopic examination the tissue was viable but demonstrated significantly more vascularization, fibroblastic infiltration, and incorporation with surrounding structures than previously reported implants.