A variety of synthetic materials have been successfully used to create a permanent encircling indentation of the sclera in treatment of certain types of retinal detachment. Although completely inert, these foreign substances may slowly erode through tissue, extruding either externally or into the interior of the eye. The possibility of late infection exists also and is particularly troublesome within the lumen of hollow tubes or surrounding any nonabsorbable foreign material which has eroded to the surface even at a single small area.
These problems of erosion and late infection can be eliminated by use of preserved human fascia lata strips in encircling procedures. Fascia lata has the further advantage of being extremely easy to manipulate. It is completely flexible and nonrigid, is smooth and slippery, does not adhere to other tissue, and can be passed easily beneath muscles and around the eye. Most convenient of all is the way in