An Analysis of Pure Blowout Fractures and Associated Ocular Symptoms

Abstract

Blowout fractures are one of the commonly occurring facial bone fractures and clinically important, as they may cause serious complications such as diplopia, extraocular movement limitation, and enophthalmos. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current patient demographics and surgical outcomes of 952 pure blowout fractures from 2 hospitals of the Catholic University of Korea, from 2003 to 2011. The medical records were reviewed according to the cause, fracture site, ocular symptoms, time of operation, and sequela. Male patients outnumbered female patients, and blowout fractures were most often seen in 21- to 30-year-old men. The most common cause was violent assault (40.7%). The medial orbital wall (45.8%) was the most common site, followed by floor (29.4%) and inferomedial wall (24.6%). The most common ocular injury was hyphema. Diplopia was presented in 27.6%; extraocular movement limitation was detected in 12.8% patients, and enophthalmos was encountered in 3.4% patients. Diplopia, extraocular movement limitation, and enophthalmos were significantly improved by surgical repair (P < 0.05). Postoperative complications were persistent diplopia (1.6%) and enophthalmos (0.4%). We surveyed a large series of blowout fracture in the Republic of Korea and recommend this study to serve as an important guideline in treating pure blowout fractures.