Subperiosteal hematomas of the orbit in young males: a serious complication of trauma or surgery in the eye region.

Three examples of subperiosteal hematomas in the region of the orbital roof of young males are used to demonstrate the unpredictable appearance, the obscure nature, the complications, and the treatment of this process. One occurred in a 14-year-old boy following blunt head trauma and was cured by aspiration. The second occurred in a 16-year-old boy also resulted from blunt head trauma; it was associated with a large subgaleal hematoma and caused permanent blindness of the involved eye. The third case developed in an 18-year-old male as a complication of acute purulent endophthalmitis following an intraocular foreign body. The purpose of this report is to separate subperiosteal hematoma on the roof of the orbit of young males from the other orbital hematomas to show that it is a concise clinical entity with its own typical history, appearance, and treatment.