Accident - Now double vision - Help

Please forgive me if this has been covered. I have only a little
strength to search/read right now. On Sat. Jan. 6th I suffered a
freak fall leaving a sporting complex. Long story short is that I fell
hard and messed up the right side of my face pretty bad. I can see
that I broke my nose and the following Wed. (Jan. 10th) I had surgery
where a silastic plate under the right eye and a titanium plate around
the orbit were inserted.

Anyway, I am home recovering nicely. My right eye is still pretty
swollen but the bruse colors are slowing fading away. If I close my
left eye my right eye seems to be working just fine. If, however, I
use both eyes at the same time then I have double vision and so I'm
just wondering if time will heal this OR is there something like eye
exercises I should do that would help my eyes re-adjust?

TIA.

JB

The internet can't help you here. You have to see an eye doctor. My
best guess, your injury will heal with no lingering effects.

What kind of surgeon did the repair? Plastics, ENT, or Oculoplastic
ophthalmologist?

Orbital floor fracture repair depends who does it. In a large study, the
least aggressive were the ophthalmologists, who do it IF it was a very large
hole , or IF there was double vision once the swelling had gone down, about
7-10 days after the injury. If there is no double vision, and if there is no
enophthalmos (sunken-in eyeball) then the ophthalmologists generally leave
it alone.

I have seen cases where there was no double vision, and a plastic surgeon
saw the hole on a CT scan and decided to "fix" it by plating it (putting an
implant plate over the hole. The act of operating and placing the implant
CAUSED diplopia that was not there before.

Your double may or may not go away once the swelling goes down. At this
point, only time will tell. Nothing much to do right now while it is
healing. Let your doctor know what is happening, however.


On 1/19/07 8:38 PM, in article
(E-Mail Removed) om, "Dr Judy"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>> Please forgive me if this has been covered. I have only a little
>> strength to search/read right now. On Sat. Jan. 6th I suffered a
>> freak fall leaving a sporting complex. Long story short is that I fell
>> hard and messed up the right side of my face pretty bad. I can see
>> that I broke my nose and the following Wed. (Jan. 10th) I had surgery
>> where a silastic plate under the right eye and a titanium plate around
>> the orbit were inserted.
>>
>> Anyway, I am home recovering nicely. My right eye is still pretty
>> swollen but the bruse colors are slowing fading away. If I close my
>> left eye my right eye seems to be working just fine. If, however, I
>> use both eyes at the same time then I have double vision and so I'm
>> just wondering if time will heal this OR is there something like eye
>> exercises I should do that would help my eyes re-adjust?
>
>
> Too early to tell.
>
> Sounds like you fractured the orbit which has the potential to affect
> eye muscles and cause double vision. Until the swelling is gone and
> healing complete you won't know if the double vision is permanent.
> Nothing you do now will affect the outcome except to follow your
> surgeon's instructions.
>
> If the double vision is new, that is you have just noticed it today and
> it was not present after surgery then call your surgeon and ask if it
> is unexpected.
>
> Dr Judy
>

Too early yet but post head injury double vision is common irrespective
of the site of injury. You're situation is compounded by the injury to
the orbit. In cases of head injury the problem usually resolves
spontaneously but there is evidence that visual therapy can hasten this
process. Let everything heal then make a decision.



(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> Please forgive me if this has been covered. I have only a little
> strength to search/read right now. On Sat. Jan. 6th I suffered a
> freak fall leaving a sporting complex. Long story short is that I fell
> hard and messed up the right side of my face pretty bad. I can see
> that I broke my nose and the following Wed. (Jan. 10th) I had surgery
> where a silastic plate under the right eye and a titanium plate around
> the orbit were inserted.
>
> Anyway, I am home recovering nicely. My right eye is still pretty
> swollen but the bruse colors are slowing fading away. If I close my
> left eye my right eye seems to be working just fine. If, however, I
> use both eyes at the same time then I have double vision and so I'm
> just wondering if time will heal this OR is there something like eye
> exercises I should do that would help my eyes re-adjust?
>
> TIA.
>
> JB