Orbital Emphysema and Orbital Floor Fracture following a Severe and Prolonged Sneezing Attack

Abstract

Orbital emphysema and orbital floor fracture following a severe and prolonged sneezing attackWe present here a rare case of barotraumatic orbital blowout fracture. An 18-year-old man with sudden swelling of the right orbital region after severe and prolonged sneezing attack presented to our emergency department. Computed tomographic examination demonstrated a blowout fracture of the right orbital floor, which led to orbital emphysema and herniation of the orbital soft tissue. He was managed with nasal decongestants, steroids, anti-inflammatory drugs and an antibiotic. He developed no visual disturbance subsequently. (Hong Kong j.emerg.med. 2015;22:256-258) 我們在這裡報告一例罕見的氣壓傷性眼眶爆裂性骨折。一個 18 歲的男子到診我們急診科，在劇烈而持久 打噴嚏之後呈現右眼眶區域突然腫脹。電腦斷層檢查顯示右側眶底爆裂性骨折，導致眼眶氣腫和眶內軟 組織膨出。他接受鼻減充血劑、類固醇、消炎藥和抗生素的治療之後，沒有出現視力障礙。

The Dangers of Sneezing: A Review of Injuries

“…The sites of injury were classified according to anatomical location: ocular/orbital [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] (27%), intrathoracic [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] (25%), intercranial/neurological 29-38 (19%), laryngeal/pharyngeal [39][40][41][42][43][44][45] (13%), otologic [46][47][48] (6%), and other [49][50][51][52][53] (10%) ( Figure 1). There were 15 cases orbital/ocular injury: orbital subcutaneous emphysema [3][4][5][6][7]10,11,…”

“…Deveer et al 11 Retrobulbar hematoma F 31 Sen and Chaturvedi 6 Orbital emphysema M 39 Ababneh 3 Orbital, subconjunctival, and subcutaneous emphysema M 16 Blunt trauma to left orbit hours before the sneezing episode Yilmaz et al 7 Blow-out fracture of right orbital floor which led to orbital emphysema and herniation of the orbital soft tissue…”