Comparison of Sugical Outcome between Early and Delayed Repair of Orbital Wall Fracture

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We analyzed the preoperative and postoperative clinical findings of orbital wall fracture patients between the group operated within 2 weeks (early group) and the group operated 3 weeks or later (delayed group). METHODS: Eighty three patients who had been operated from January 1997 to December 2001 were included, 68 patients were early group and 15 patients were delayed group. We analyzed retrospectively the degree of diplopia, limitation of extraocular motility and enophthalmos for more than 6 months following surgery. RESULTS: Orbital wall fracture predominantly occurred in male than in female (p>0.05), and mostly between 21 and 40 years old. The main cause was from violence and traffic accidents. The major coexisting diseases were head trauma and fractures of low extremities, especially in the group of delayed operation. The common locations of fracture were either inferior wall or combined inferior and medial walls. The early group showed less severe preoperative clinical states and better outcomes of postoperative improvement than the delayed group. However, there was no statistically significant difference between two groups in the degree of postoperative limitation of extraocular motility and enophthalmos. CONCLUSIONS: The early group tended to be less severe preoperatively and showed better postoperative outcome than the delayed group. However, the repair of orbital wall fracture was be indicated to improve clinical states even after 3 weeks following injury.