Implants of fat were first used after exenteration of the globe by Barraquer in 1901. Marx and Lauber in 1910 and Gradle, from Elschnig's clinic, in 1915 reported on the use of such implants after enucleation.
In a review of the use of implants of fat in 1922, Sattler reported 104 cases from the ophthalmic clinic of Königsberg University. In 91 there was good healing, in 8 the wound opened without loss of the fat, in 3 the fat became necrotic and in 2 there was complete expulsion.
Steiner, in 1921, reported a marked shrinking of the implant of fat after from six months to two years in a case in which there was primary healing.
Sattler1 stated in his article that implants of fat are usually most satisfactory in young patients and that the fat shrinks, as a rule, during the first four weeks and seldom after two