- Email: [email protected]
Traumatic ossification of the periobit
LETTERSTO THE EDITOR
Traumatic ossification of the periorhit To the Editor:
A 20-year-old woman recently came to the department of maxillofacial surgery at Guy’s Hospital with pain over her left cheek that had been present for 5 years. No clinical abnormalities had been found by her general medical practitioner, and the problem had been diagnosed as atypical facial pain. Treatment with analgesics and antidepressants had been unsuccessful. Further detailed clinical examination in the maxillofacial department indicated no abnormalities except for slight hyperesthesia of the skin supplied by the left infraorbital nerve. Interestingly, however, radiographs revealed a very unusual denseopacification the region of the left orbit (Fig. 1). On further ques-
Fig. 1. Occipitomental
316
tioning. the patient informed us that she had been involved in a road accident when she was 14-years-old. Her previous records showed that she had sustained nasoethmoidal and left zygomatic fractures that had not required treatment. It would appear that the traumatic injury to the left cheek in the early teenage years resulted in this unusual bony remodeling of the orbit. We felt that her present symptoms could be explained in terms of limited recovery of the injured left infraorbital nerve that caused persistent hyperesthesia. In fact, cryotherapy of the nerve has been successful to date. N. M. Girdler, FDSRCSEng FFDRCSIrel Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Guy’s Hospital (UMDS) London, U.K.
radiograph shows dense opacification in left orbit region.
Traumatic ossification of the periorhit To the Editor:
A 20-year-old woman recently came to the department of maxillofacial surgery at Guy’s Hospital with pain over her left cheek that had been present for 5 years. No clinical abnormalities had been found by her general medical practitioner, and the problem had been diagnosed as atypical facial pain. Treatment with analgesics and antidepressants had been unsuccessful. Further detailed clinical examination in the maxillofacial department indicated no abnormalities except for slight hyperesthesia of the skin supplied by the left infraorbital nerve. Interestingly, however, radiographs revealed a very unusual denseopacification the region of the left orbit (Fig. 1). On further ques-
Fig. 1. Occipitomental
316
tioning. the patient informed us that she had been involved in a road accident when she was 14-years-old. Her previous records showed that she had sustained nasoethmoidal and left zygomatic fractures that had not required treatment. It would appear that the traumatic injury to the left cheek in the early teenage years resulted in this unusual bony remodeling of the orbit. We felt that her present symptoms could be explained in terms of limited recovery of the injured left infraorbital nerve that caused persistent hyperesthesia. In fact, cryotherapy of the nerve has been successful to date. N. M. Girdler, FDSRCSEng FFDRCSIrel Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Guy’s Hospital (UMDS) London, U.K.
radiograph shows dense opacification in left orbit region.