Orbital blowout fractures--the influence of age on surgical outcome.

We report the frequency of troublesome diplopia in 17 patients (11 patients less than or equal to 21 years) who underwent surgical repair of traumatic orbital blowout fractures. Thirteen patients had primary surgery performed within 21 days of injury, 2 patients at 4 and 6 weeks and 2 cases at 6 and 24 months. The latter continues to complain of diplopia. Contrary to previous studies, we found that young patients were no more likely to suffer from symptomatic post-operative residual diplopia than their adult counterparts.