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Ocular injury secondary to periorbital use of stainless-steel wire and suture
R P Yeatts1, J Harvey, G B Bartley
1Department of Ophthalmology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC.
Objective:
To describe previously unreported ocular injuries from stainless-steel wire or suture used for facial skeletal or soft-tissue repair.
Participants:
Three patients who underwent orbital reconstruction (n = 2) or ptosis repair with excision of the orbiculus oculi (n = 1) were referred with signs and symptoms of ocular injury.
Interventions:
Removal of the wires and sutures.
Results:
Treatment resolved discomfort and irritation and diminished ocular motility, iritis, and bullous keratopathy but did not improve diminished vision in one of the patients.
Conclusions:
Occult ocular injury from misdirected or migrating stainless-steel wire should be considered in any case of ocular injury following orbital fracture or reconstructive repair when other disease processes are readily excluded. In these three cases, stainless-steel wire or suture impinged against or impaled the globe. The use of rigid plate fixation for orbital reconstruction or otherwise placing all stainless-steel wires and sutures outside the confines of the orbit would avoid such ocular injury.