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Early, late surgical repairs of orbital blowout floor fractures yield similar outcomes
Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging. 2009;40(2):141-148.
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Time between injury and surgical repair of orbital blowout floor fractures did not appear to affect outcomes, according to a study.
"In these patients, postoperative vertical ductions and postoperative enophthalmos improved after fracture repair," the study authors said. "Surgery was associated with a low rate of postoperative complications."
The retrospective case series included the medical records of 50 patients who underwent unilateral orbital floor fracture repair over a 4-year span. Investigators compared outcomes of surgery performed within 2 weeks of injury to those of surgery done later.
The leading causes of injury were assault, traffic accidents and athletic injuries, the authors said.
Twenty patients underwent surgery to correct limited up-gaze and inferior rectus muscle entrapment. Thirty patients had surgery to prevent enophthalmos in cases involving appreciable bony expansion.
Data showed enophthalmos improving an average of 0.8 mm after surgery. Ocular motility improved after surgery, but the improvement was statistically significant in up-gaze only. Patients who had surgical repairs done within 2 weeks of injury attained less improvement in enophthalmos than those who had surgery later, the authors said.