Bioceramics and composites for orbital Implants: current trends and clinical performance

The applications of ceramics in the medical field are mainly related to the repair of hard tissues, like bone and teeth, whereas their potential for the repair of other tissues has been often underestimated. A clinical area where porous ceramics are playing a key role is anophtalmic surgery, that deals with the removal of diseased eyes and their substitution by a (usually) spherical orbital implant replacing the ocular volume. Over the years, many bioceramics have been proposed for such an application, including glass, hydroxyapatite and alumina. Recently, polymer/bioceramic composites have been also experimented in order to reduce the stiffness mismatch between the ceramic constituent of the orbital implant and the surrounding soft tissues. This chapter provides an overview of the currently-used ceramic-based orbital implants, also exploring new research directions and highlighting the promises for the future disclosed by the recent advances in bioceramics science.