It is produced from a powder of polymers of low pressure polyethylene mixed together and molded into shapes. It can be shaped by cutting and softening in hot water and the rectus muscles can be sutured directly on the implant. It can’t be sterilized in an autoclave because it has a melting temperature of 110 ° C but only with ethylene oxide. Medpor is highly porous, is suitable to soft tissue fitting and is moderately osteoconductive. The incidence of infection is low and results in a minimal foreign body reaction with a thin periprosthetic capsule. It’s stable, it doesn’t reabsorb itself and extrusion implant is rare.
It’s one of the most used alloplastic materials in cranio-maxillofacial surgery. It can be used as camouflage material in soft tissue post-cancer or post-traumatic surgery, in floor and side wall orbital reconstruction, facial bone structures, chin and nose, ear reconstruction resulting from severe burns. It’s rather used as intraocular implant compared to hydroxyapatite because it exerts less friction on tissues, reduces the extrusion risks and it’s shapeable during surgery. The cost of this implant however is very high if compared with the other implants available on market.