Extensive, Traumatic Fractures of the Orbit In War and Peace Time

Abstract

Traumatic fractures of the orbit are fairly frequent injuries both in wartime and in peacetime. Most often they are part of facial injuries but they can also be isolated. They are followed by numerous symptoms such as eye dislocation, enophthalmos, double vision, and often by various injuries of eye accessory organs. The conservative treatment of these injuries has been mostly abandoned. Surgical therapy--that is, the reconstruction of the original orbital shape and volume as well as repositioning of orbital contents to their previous position--has to be performed as soon as possible. In cases of neglected fractures it is necessary to refracture the bone, reposition and fix the broken orbital fragments, and then, concomitantly, reconstruct the orbital shape and volume as well as reposition the orbital contents in their original position. In patients with neglected injuries, results of surgical treatment (i.e., correction of eye position, enophthalmos, and double vision) are considerably poorer than those achieved after the surgical treatment of fresh injuries.