What are surgical treatment options for a sunken eye after an orbital floor blowout?

Question

After I had surgery to repair an orbital floor blowout and fracture of the orbital rim, the eye relevant to the injury became sunken. It is noticeably pushed back from the original state and double vision is prevalent in the very top and very bottom of my visual range. Is it possible to have surgery to reposition the eye more outwards, back to its original location? If so, what surgeries are commonly available and recommended? Thanks in advance.

Mehryar (Ray) Taban, MD, FACS · Answer

Usually orbital implant is placed to restore more normal orbital bone anatomy and reposition the eyeball but best to see an oculoplastic specialist for evaluation as more information is needed.

Alexander Ovchinsky, MD · Answer

The most common reason for sunken eye, or enophthalmus, is increased orbital volume due to the fracture of the floor of the eye socket and prolapse of the orbital contents into the maxillary sinus. As you had a repair of the fracture done already, I would suggest to follow up with your surgeon to possibly get a CT scan to evaluate the repair status. There may be a need for additional surgery given your symptoms which would likely involve placing a larger implant/ bone graft over the floor of the orbit to correct the eye position.

Darab Hormozi, MD · Answer

After a blowout fracture it might be some fat necrosis in the orbit due to trauma  producing a sunken eye !  There are ways to increase the intra orbital volume by placing bone graft.  The double vision is a different type of problem and I have seen it resolved after several months.  Consult an Oculoplastic surgeon for this procedure

What are surgical treatment options for a sunken eye after an orbital floor blowout?

Answers (3)