Noninvasive 3-dimensional evaluation of periorbital asymmetry in isolated unilateral orbital floor fractures

Abstract

Objective: The study was carried out to evaluate the degree of asymmetry between the injured and contralateral periorbital region in isolated orbital floor fractures after surgery.

Study design: The periorbital asymmetry of 35 patients with medium-sized orbital floor fractures that were surgically treated with alloplastic resorbable implants was evaluated and compared with that of a healthy control group using an optical 3-dimensional facial scanner. Distance measurements between facial surface landmarks, as well as volume measurements between the original image and an automatically generated mirror image, were performed using commercially available software.

Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the distance measurements (P > .05) and volume measurements (P > .05) within the groups or when the study group and control group were compared using the Student t test.

Conclusions: Alloplastic resorbable implants can restore medium defects of the orbital floor without significant periorbital asymmetry. Automatically constructed mirror images can be a helpful tool for detecting asymmetries in faces.