How serious is a broken orbital bone?

These fractures may be asymptomatic and can be observed or cause problems with double vision, or a change in the position of the eyeball, and require surgical repair.

Can you recover from a broken orbital bone?

What’s the outlook? Although eye socket fractures can be dangerous, most people recover well. If you went into the surgery with double vision, it may last as long as two to four months after surgery. If it doesn’t go away after four to six months, you may need eye muscle surgery or special corrective glasses.

How do they fix a broken orbital bone?

The repair of orbital fractures involves fracture site exposure, freeing tissue prolapsed into the fracture site, and reapproximating the orbital wall support, usually with an implant.

How long does it take to recover from an orbital fracture?

Most patients who do not require surgery will notice steady improvement in their symptoms. Double vision will continue to improve over several weeks. Numbness of the cheek or teeth can last 6-8 weeks on average as well. Pain is usually minimal after the bruising and swelling from the injury subside.

Do you need surgery for orbital fracture?

Some orbital wall fractures heal on their own, while others require surgery. Your doctor will discuss which treatment is right for you. Two types of surgery are used for orbital wall fractures: Traditional surgery, which requires an open incision.

Are orbital fractures painful?

Pain. Most patients with any form of facial fracture — such as orbital — will experience moderate to severe pain, which needs to be managed. This is due to a relatively high density of sensory pain fibers in the facial and orbital regions, thus making pain symptoms significant.

Is orbital fracture life threatening?

An extremely dramatic force can fracture the eye socket and needs immediate medical attention, because the blowout can be life threatening.

Do all orbital fractures need surgery?

Not all broken orbit bones need to be fixed. If the fracture site is not too big, if there is no bothersome double vision and if the eye doesn’t look sunken, many patients can be allowed to heal without the need for surgery.

What are the most common complications of orbital fractures?

The most common late complications following surgical repair of the orbital floor are ectropion, persistent postoperative diplopia, infraorbital nerve dysfunction, and enophthalmos.

When does an orbital fracture require surgery?

Even problems with your vision can fix themselves over time without surgical treatment. Indirect orbital fractures will only need surgery if another part of the eye has become trapped in the break or if more than 50% of the floor is broken. Most of the time this type of fracture is better when left alone.

What happens if you don’t treat orbital fracture?

Sometimes, an orbital floor fracture creates a small opening in the bone. This opening can wind up trapping part of the eye muscles or other parts of the eye. Your eye might not move properly, or you might have double vision or other vision problems.

How long does orbital surgery take?

How long does Orbital Fracture Surgery take? Orbital surgery takes roughly 1 to 2 hours to perform. It is an outpatient procedure and patients go home that day.

How common is an orbital fracture?

Fractures of the orbital floor are common: it is estimated that about 10% of all facial fractures are isolated orbital wall fractures (the majority of these being the orbital floor), and that 30-40% of all facial fractures involve the orbit. The anatomy of the orbital floor predisposes it to fracture.

What surgery is done for orbital fracture?

Repair of an orbital floor fracture involves bridging of the floor defect using one of the various biomaterials. More commonly, titanium meshes, porous polyethylene sheets, or autologous bone grafts. Titanium meshes and bone grafts are radiopaque.

When is surgery needed for orbital fracture?

Indications for surgery are enophthalmos (>2 mm), ocular motility dysfunction, and persistent diplopia in primary gaze or reading position, CT findings of ocular muscle impingement and over 50% of floor involvement, progressive V2 hypesthesia, and abnormal forced duction testing.