A child with silent sinus syndrome and spontaneous improvement after sinus surgery

Abstract

Silent sinus syndrome is characterized by an asymptomatic hypoplastic maxillary sinus with progressive enophthalmos and hypoglobus. This is a disease rarely affecting children with the majority of reported cases involving adult patients. Treatment is primarily surgical with endoscopic sinus surgery to restore aeration of the sinus along with orbital reconstruction to restore facial symmetry. In this report, we describe a 7 year old child with facial asymmetry and no sinonasal symptoms. CT showed an opacified hypoplastic right maxillary sinus. One year after endoscopic sinus surgery, there was spontaneous improvement of facial asymmetry and relative maxillary sinus size.