Histological and scanning electron microscopic study of tissue invasion of Bangerter nylon implant after enucleation.

An incidentally extirpated Bangerter-type nylon implant was examined by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Three months after implantation, the implant was densely filled with tissues, which were shown by light microscopy to be muscle cells in the margin of the implant; the muscle cells were fixed there at the time of implantation, and fibrocytic cells were inside the implant. Scanning electron microscopy showed interlacing fibrous cells with erythrocytes and leukocytes among the nylon fibers, lamellar accumulation of fibrous cells around nylon fibers, and a smooth surface of the margin of the nylon implant. This invasion of fibrous cells into the nylon implant is one reason why the Bangerter type of nylon implant rarely falls out of the orbital socket.