ABSTRACT
Introduction Advances in medical technology have allowed plastic surgeons to utilize syn
thetic materials as an alternative to autologous tissues when performing many of today’s aesthetic and reconstructive surgeries. Although autologous materials are generally preferred, synthetic materials provide several advantages over tissues ob tained from the patient:
• Not resorbed over time (unless they are designed to do so) • Do not require a second surgical donor site • Provide more material than can often be obtained from the patient • Can be custom-tailored to the individual patient • Reduce operating time since graft harvesting is not performed
Because of the many benefits to using alloplastic materials, there is currendy a strong interest in developing the ideal implant material which would possess the following characteristics: it should (1) be chemically inert; (2) be incapable of pro ducing hypersensitivity or a foreign body reaction; (3) be easily contoured; (4) re tain stable shape over time (except when desired); (5) be noncarcinogenic; (6) become ingrown or replaced by living tissue; (7) be easy to remove and sterilize; and (8) not interfere with radiographic imaging. Despite much effort and ingenuity, creation of the ideal implant material has yet to be accomplished. However, various alloplastic materials are being used today in plastic and reconstructive procedures, and many of them have proven quite promising.
