Silastic is a highly inert silicone rubber that has wide use for medical applications. The term silastic comes from the combination of the words silicone and plastic. Laryngologists commonly place silastic implants into flaccid, paralyzed vocal cords in order to plump and firm them up so that they can serve as better partners to the non-paralyzed cord. See also: medialization laryngoplasty.
Extrusion of Vocal Cord Implant
Extrusion of vocal cord implant (1 of 3)
Patient with a paralyzed left vocal cord (right of image), who several years ago had successful medialization of that cord with a silastic wedge. More recently, several months ago, she noticed pain and swelling during some intense aerobic activity and then a persistently roughened voice quality. This view shows that the left cord is inflamed.
Extrusion of vocal cord implant (2 of 3)
Strobe lighting. Note the convex shape of the left cord’s anterior end (the lower end, in this photo). This convexity is not caused by over-medialization, but instead by the inflammatory reaction.
Extrusion of vocal cord implant (3 of 3)
Closer view shows that the problem is exposure of the silastic implant. The actual silastic is bare at the arrow. Whitish exudate covers the remaining exposed implant. This is a rare event after medialization with a silastic implant.
