Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 24, 2026
Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Orbital Fractures
Published on: May 16, 2025
Early versus late repair of orbital blowout fractures
Guy J Ben Simon1, Hasan M Syed, John D McCann
1Jules Stein Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Background And Objective:
To compare early and late surgical repair of orbital blowout floor fractures.
Patients And Methods:
A retrospective, comparative interventional case series reviewed medical records of 50 consecutive patients who underwent unilateral orbital floor fracture repair in a 4-year period. Comparative analysis was performed between patients operated on within 2 weeks of injury and those operated on at a later stage.
Results:
Assault, motor vehicle accidents, and sports injuries were the most common causes of injury. Surgery was performed due to inferior rectus muscle entrapment and limitations in up gaze in 20 (40%) patients or to prevent enophthalmos in cases with significant bony orbital expansion in 30 (60%) patients. After surgery, enophthalmos improved an average of 0.8 mm. Limitation in ocular motility improved after surgery but was statistically significant only in up gaze. Patients who underwent early repair (within 2 weeks) achieved less improvement in enophthalmos versus patients who underwent late repair (delta enophthalmos of 0.2 +/- 1.1 vs 1.3 +/- 1.9 mm, respectively; P = .02).
Conclusion:
In these patients, postoperative vertical ductions and postoperative enophthalmos improved after fracture repair. Surgery was associated with a low rate of postoperative complications. No apparent difference in surgical outcome was seen between early (within 2 weeks) and late surgical repair.
