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R. Patrick Yeatts, MD; John Harvey, MD, FRCSC; George B. Bartley, MD; John J. Nerney, MD

Arch Ophthalmol. 1994;112(2):213-216.

Abstract
Objective
To describe previously unreported ocular injuries from stainless-steel wire or suture used for facial skeletal or soft-tissue repair.

Participants
Three patients who underwent orbital reconstruction (n=2) or ptosis repair with excision of the orbiculus oculi (n=1) were referred with signs and symptoms of ocular injury.

Interventions
Removal of the wires and sutures.

Results
Treatment resolved discomfort and irritation and diminished ocular motility, iritis, and bullous keratopathy but did not improve diminished vision in one of the patients.

Conclusions
Occult ocular injury from misdirected or migrating stainless-steel wire should be considered in any case of ocular injury following orbital fracture or reconstructive repair when other disease processes are readily excluded. In these three cases, stainlesssteel wire or suture impinged against or impaled the globe. The use of rigid plate fixation for orbital reconstruction or otherwise placing all stainless-steel wires and sutures outside the confines of the orbit would avoid such ocular injury.

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC (Dr Yeatts); the Department of Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario (Dr Harvey); the Department of Ophthalmology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn (Dr Bartley); and Mountain Eye Associates, Clyde, NC (Dr Nerney).

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