Facial Fracture Repair
Trauma to the face can occur from bike or car accidents, or many other types of injuries. In order to determine the severity of the injury, the doctor will usually get a CT scan of the facial bones to assess for any fractures. Dr. Eftekhari is a specialist in facial fracture repair especially in orbital bone fractures which can displace the position of the eye or cheek.
Not all facial bone fractures need to be fixed or plated with titanium. Dr. Eftekhari uses a customized approach and will tell you if you need surgery or if the fracture can be allowed to heal. Especially around the eye socket (orbit), it is best to consider the eye and the movement of the eye in the socket first before considering if surgery is necessary. Dr. Eftekhari will measure the eye position and your eye movements at the time of your visit. If you have double vision this may resolve on its own, but if it lasts more than 5 days or if your eye muscles are pinched on the CT scan, Dr. Eftekhari may recommend surgery sooner.
The Procedure
Repair of facial bone fractures is done under general anesthesia in the operating room. Depending on the location of the fracture, Dr. Eftekhari may be able to hide all your incisions in the lower eyelid without any visible skin incisions. For cheekbone fractures, Dr. Eftekhari may work with a second surgeon to approach the fracture from both behind the lower eyelid and through the upper gums in the mouth to hide the incisions.
Fractures around the face may necessitate synthetic implants to be placed inside the eye socket, with or without titanium reinforcement depending on the severity of the fracture.
Recovery after the Procedure
Depending on the severity of the fracture and length of surgery, most facial fracture surgeries can be done on an outpatient basis. Dr. Eftekhari will prescribe pain medicine after your surgery and an antibiotic eye ointment to be used on the eye and the skin around the eye for two weeks after surgery.
Bruising and swelling after facial fracture surgery may take up to 6 weeks to resolve. In most cases, this resolves in under two weeks. Dr. Eftekhari will check you during this time to ensure you are healing appropriately.