Delayed Diagnosis of an Occult Wooden Orbital Foreign Body

An orbital foreign body should be suspected in cases of penetrating orbital injury, but they are not typically seen with low-velocity trauma and no obvious penetrating injury. Wooden foreign bodies are difficult to distinguish from orbital fat on computed tomography (CT), and without a high degree of suspicion for a foreign body, techniques to distinguish wood in the orbit may not be utilized. The authors present here a case of an initially unrecognized wooden orbital foreign body in the setting of orbital trauma where the patient denied any possibility of a foreign body and no evidence of a penetrating injury. The diagnosis was eventually made with an interdisciplinary review of the imaging between the orbital service and radiology, and the foreign body was subsequently removed via orbitotomy. Surgeons should maintain a high index of suspicion when there is a question of a foreign body on imaging, and a low threshold to involve radiology colleagues in the diagnostic evaluation.