THE ORBITAL floor may be involved in various types of facial fractures; in particular, the tripod fracture of the zygoma, the blowout fracture, and fractures of the maxilla of the LeFort II and III types.
Surgical repair may be necessary when the orbital floor is so comminuted as to permit entrapment of the ocular muscles, or a defect is present which permits herniation of the orbital contents into the maxillary antrum.
It is not within the scope of this paper to discuss the clinical findings for these fractures or the sequelae, but only to present the more common means of orbital floor repair with particular reference to orbital implants, and to relay our experience with the surgery of these facial fractures.
Anatomy
The orbit is a cone-shaped structure with the weakest area situated immediately in front of the inferior orbital fissure.1 This is the area that must be thoroughly