[Reconstruction following an orbital tumor in children]

Tumors of the orbital region which may develop during infancy and childhood have multiple origins and a specific treatment should be applied to each lesion as regards the degree of malignancy, the extent of the tumor and the age of the child. The plastic surgeon is usually called when the surgical treatment or the radiotherapy have been mutilating. It is then necessary to offer the most satisfactory reconstruction to the child, taking into account the possibility of a recurrent disease or the future development of the orbital cavity. The following priorities should be observed: 1) The tumoral resection should be as complete and as curative as possible. 2) The sight of the eye should be saved if possible; 3) The skeletal reconstruction should be performed if possible with autologous bone graft taken from the skull area. 4) The soft tissue reconstruction is performed by a series of plastic surgery methods. The use of the temporal muscle is common. 5) The final esthetic result often depends on the choice and the quality of additional corrections (canthopexy, mucosal graft, correction of enophthalmos, etc). The surgery of orbital tumors is a team work (neurosurgery, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, plastic surgery). The presence of the plastic surgeon during the initial treatment is highly recommendable and often permits an immediate reconstruction.