[Skip to Navigation]
Article
October 1988

Destructive Cysts of the Maxillary Sinus Affecting the Orbit

Author Affiliations

From the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Wisconsin Clinical Sciences Center, Madison. Dr Kaltreider is now with the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.

Arch Ophthalmol. 1988;106(10):1398-1402. doi:10.1001/archopht.1988.01060140562023
Abstract

• Symptomatic maxillary sinus cysts are diagnosed less frequently than similar cysts of the frontal and ethmoidal sinuses and are rarely reported in the ophthalmic literature. Patients with cysts of the maxillary sinus may present to the ophthalmologist with proptosis, enophthalmos, diplopia, ptosis, epiphora, and, rarely, decreased visual acuity. Four patients with maxillary sinus mucoceles are presented; one of these patients had a concurrent retention cyst in the orbit. Clinical history, radiologic findings, and histopathologic mechanisms are discussed. Mucocele is a recognized complication of the Caldwell-Luc procedure and midface trauma. Blockage of the sinus ostia was the cause previously proposed to explain antral mucocele development. Clinical and histopathologic features may support more than one single mechanism for the pathogenesis of maxillary sinus cysts. Maxillary sinus mucocele or retention cysts should be considered in the differential diagnosis of exophthalmos or enophthalmos following blowout fracture of the orbital floor.

Add or change institution
×