Ocular Outcomes of Maxillofacial Trauma - A Decennary Descriptive Study.

ABSTRACT

Maxillofacial trauma is amongst the most frequently encountered trauma seen in the hospital emergency setting. It may be life-threatening on rare occasions, and with concomitant injuries, it is often severely debilitating. OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted to determine the occurrence of concomitant orbital and ocular injuries amongst patients with maxillofacial trauma, and also helps in deriving a correlation between different patterns of maxillofacial fractures. METHODS: All the records of the patients with maxillofacial trauma who were admitted to our institution over a 10-year period were analyzed. The files were screened to isolate the patients with concomitant ocular and orbital injuries. RESULTS: Out of a total of 686 patients, 370 had associated ocular injuries. A total of 566 (82.5%) patients were males and 120 (17.5%) females. A total of 236 patients (34.4%) were in the 3rd decade. A total of 351 cases of orbital fracture (isolated + concomitant) were reported. About 44 (12.5%) cases of isolated orbital floor fractures were seen.Subconjunctival hemorrhage accounted for the maximum number of cases amounting to 59.19%. The least associated ocular injuries seen were of traumatic mydriasis (0.28%). Out of 370 cases of ocular injuries, 249 (67.3%) were associated with fractures of the zygomaticomaxillary complex. CONCLUSIONS: The present study draws attention to the concomitant orbital and ocular injuries in maxillofacial trauma patients. This study is strongly suggestive of a very high probability of concomitant ocular injury in maxillofacial trauma patients which necessitates strong interdepartmental coordination for holistic management of the maxillofacial trauma patients.