Causes | Orbital floor fracture

Causes

The cause of an orbital floor fracture is a high force applied to the eyeball, resulting in a fracture of the bone in which the eyeball is located. The bone is called the orbita and usually breaks at the weakest point and thus at the orbital floor. Causes for the high force impact are especially fist hits on the eye as well as accidents which are accompanied by a high force impact on the eye.

The injury is also typical in sports accidents, when hard balls hit the eye precisely, resulting in a massive impact on the eye and orbit. A sport in which this injury occurs more frequently is tennis, for example. A fracture of the orbital floor, which is often accompanied by other fractures of the facial bones, can also occur in the event of a serious collision of the person affected with another person or object. Contact sports in particular are frequent triggers for these complex fractures of the face.

Therapy

An orbital floor fracture is treated by surgical intervention. The surgeon must first gain access to the damaged bone. This is done by making an incision under the eye.

The two bone fragments are then pushed together again and any structures that are trapped in the bone gap are freed from it. These measures alone can help to relieve structures such as nerves and muscles and thus improve symptoms. Since without fixation the bone immediately forms a gap again, the original stability must be restored by the targeted use of certain materials.The damaged bone is repaired by modern materials that promote bone formation and at the same time support the fractured orbit. After the procedure, the skin under the eye is sutured, taking care to cause only minimal scarring.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of an orbital floor fracture can usually be made simply by describing the situation that led to the symptoms and by inspecting and examining the patient. In order to assess the potential damage to the substances located in the orbital cavity, imaging diagnostics are usually performed. X-rays can be taken, which usually provide a good representation of the orbital floor fracture.

A computer tomograph produces images using X-ray technology, but these are many times more detailed than a normal X-ray image. The images produced by a computed tomography scanner show the structures in many layers, which is why this technique is used especially for complicated fractures with severe symptoms. If symptoms occur that lead to a restriction of eye movement and loss of sensitivity, it should be discussed which nerve has failed so that this can be taken into account during surgery.