In surgical treatment of the medial orbital wall fractures, restoring the original position of the orbital wall is difficult in some cases. Under such condition, the orbital wall is often reconstructed with synthetic material, without bony reduction, which is considered to be the conventional reconstruction. The purpose of this study is to compare the outcomes of anatomical reconstruction, which restores the bony wall to the anatomical position, from that of the conventional reduction in the isolated medial orbital wall fractures.

Thirty patients, who underwent reconstruction surgery for the isolated medial orbital wall fractures from March 2007 to August 2011, were reviewed retrospectively. The surgical outcomes of two groups, the conventional reconstruction group (15 patients) and the anatomical reconstruction group (15 patients), were studied in 2 measurements, a one day before and 6 months after the surgery. The changes of orbital volume were calculated by the images from a computed tomography scan and enophthalmos was measured by a Hertel exophthalmometer.

The orbital volume ratio was decreased by an average of 1.05% in the conventional reconstruction group, while in the anatomical reconstruction group, the ratio decreased by 5.90% ( p <0.05). The changes in the Hertel scale were 0.20 mm in the conventional reconstruction group, and 0.70 mm in the anatomical reconstruction group. However, the difference in the Hertel scale was statistically insignificant ( p >0.05).

In conclusion, the anatomical reconstruction technique of the isolated medial orbital wall fracture results in a better outcome than that of the conventional reconstruction, in terms of restoring of the original orbital volume and anatomic position. Thus, it can be considered as a useful method for the isolated medial orbital wall fractures.