Enophthalmosis: A Case Study

The patient may display obvious external signs such as periorbital ecchymosis, subconjunctival haemorrhage and enophthalmos (emedicine). Enophthalmos occurs due to a rise in the volume of the orbit thereby leading to the backwards displacement of the globe into the orbit. However, if the injury occurred very recently, the enophthalmos could potentially be masked by orbital edema and as the swelling subsides, it will become more visible (Aao, 2015). It is important to keep in mind that as a result of increased volume of the orbit, it can give the appearance of a ptosis which is known as a pseudo ptosis. If the patient has an orbital floor fracture then they may additionally present with hypoglobus which is when the eye is displaced downwards within the orbit. It isn't always the case that a patient with an orbital blowout fracture is presented with enophthalmos, in some cases; they may have proptosis which is protrusion of the globe caused by intraorbital haemorrhage (Ansons and Davis, 2014).
Exophthalmometry can be used to measure the degree of enopthalmos or potential proptosis within this patient using a Hertle exopthalmometer; the normal range is variable and is said to …show more content…
Reversal of diplopia is a characteristic of orbital blowout fractures, however; it should be kept in mind that this has been observed in some cases in patients who have no fracture with oedema and a haemorrhage. In terms of the reversal of diplopia: if the patient has a medial wall blowout fracture when looking in the direction of the fracture they will have crossed diplopia and uncrossed diplopia when looking the opposite direction. If he has an orbital floor blowout fracture then, for example: if he sees the diplopic image higher on up-gaze, it will be seen as lower on down-gaze (Ansons and Davis,