What about orbital fractures after trauma?

Falls, punching injuries, or traffic accidents often cause head and face trauma, leading to orbital fractures. Orbital fractures are one of the common types of craniomaxillofacial injuries and can occur in combination with other craniofacial fractures or alone. There are two types of orbital fractures: simple and compound. The orbital rim is intact and only the orbital wall is fractured, which we call simple orbital; non-simple orbital fracture: not only the orbital wall is fractured, but also the combined orbital rim is fractured or the zygomatic complex, the naso-orbital sieve as well as the frontal bone is fractured, which we call compound orbital fracture. Orbital fractures can have the following symptoms: (1) There may be subconjunctival hemorrhage, periorbital petechiae, intraorbital hemorrhage, periorbital edema, and subcutaneous emphysema. (2) Fractures often cause enlargement of the orbital cavity and downward and backward displacement of the eye. In the early stage, it may not be obvious or the eyeball may protrude, when the swelling subsides after 5 ~7 days, the eyeball inversion can be revealed. (3) Displacement of extraocular muscle pulling or embedded and lead to eye movement disorder. (4) Diplopia can be produced by ocular subsidence/involution, extraocular muscle injury or oculomotor nerve injury. (5) In the early stage, visual impairment is mostly caused by corneal trauma, penetrating eyeball injury, optic nerve canal fracture, optic nerve contusion or retinopathy. In later stages, visual impairment can be caused by glaucoma, corneal leukoma, cataract and optic nerve atrophy. (6) Most often, periorbital numbness is caused by infraorbital or supraorbital nerve injury. Patients with orbital fractures should have imaging tests. (1) X-ray flat film: the Wahl film can show the orbital roof and floor. Indirect signs of fracture, such as tear-drop manifestations or air-fluid planes, can be visualized with this film position. Plain films do not show fractures of the orbital wall well and cannot localize foreign bodies. (2) Orbital CT: The combination of axial and coronal and three-dimensional reconstructed CT images can clarify the specifics of orbital rim and orbital wall fractures as well as soft tissue injuries, select indications for surgery, and guide the development of a surgical plan. (3) Orbital MRI has outstanding advantages for assessing soft tissue injury in orbital trauma. Early surgery should be performed if clinical examination and CT examination reveal the presence of risk factors leading to ocular entropion and diplopia. Traumatic diplopia may occur in the early stages of the fracture and does not require special management if CT examination does not reveal soft tissue and extraocular muscle embeddedness and the extraocular muscle pull test is negative. If diplopia is obvious, eye movement is limited, extraocular muscle pull test is positive, and CT examination reveals embedded extraocular muscle and its surrounding tissues, prompt surgical treatment is needed. Surgery is performed to return the orbital contents embedded in the maxillary and sieve sinuses and repair the orbital wall defect with autologous bone or bone substitute lining. The normal orbital floor protrudes into the orbit in an arch behind the ball, a structure that is difficult to restore and can be compensated for by filling implants. Antibiotics are applied after surgery to prevent infection, hormones may be applied postoperatively depending on periorbital and orbital content edema, timely checkups are performed to record visual acuity, and postoperative CT examination is performed to clarify the effect of orbital wall reconstruction. Postoperative follow-up is recommended at 3 months.