Morphometric analysis of orbital, buccal and subcutaneous fats: their potential in the treatment of enophthalmos

Retro-orbital fat volume reduction has been reported in patients with enophthalmos but could be restored by a suitable fat autograft. Buccal and subcutaneous adipose tissues were identified as possible donor sites. Samples of these and of orbital fat were obtained from fresh cadavers, and the relative volumes of collagen and of endothelial cells and the numerical density of mast cells were compared since these might influence graft survival. The results demonstrated strong similarities between orbital and buccal fat which were significantly different from subcutaneous fat. It was concluded that the buccal fat pad would be a more suitable donor site than subcutaneous adipose tissue to replace orbital fat loss and that its use merits further investigation