Blow-out fractures

Twenty-one cases of blow-out fractures were treated at Osaka University Hospital between June 1979 and February 1982. 52% of the patients were teenagers. The most important cause of a blow-out fracture was a fist-fight (48%). Most of the patients had diplopia caused by the disturbance of the eyeball movement, mainly in the upward or downward rotations. 19 of 21 patients were surgically treated. The prognosis was much more related to the severity of the fracture than the period between the injury and the surgical treatment.