Can My Face Be Fixed After Having Multiple Fractures?

Q:  Dr. Eppley, I was in an accident that fractured my nose, eye socket, cheekbone and jaw. I had 1 reconstructive surgery to place the bones back in place. After the surgery, months past and I was hoping for my face to begin to look the same as before. It has almost been a year and I hate how I look. Afraid of what the world has to think or say, I cover my face with sunglasses. I hate how I look and since then I’ve had a very low self esteem. I want to look for answers. Can my face be fixed? Or will I ever look the same or close to it? I can provide pictures of my face to determine if my face is at all repairable or if it’s just too late. Thank you.

A:  Thank you for sending your pictures. I can see that you have a classic post-traumatic facial deformity, known as zygomatico-orbital displacement on your right side. While your initial facial fractures may have been surgically treated, they did not properly place your orbital and cheek (zygomatic) bones back into anatomic position or there were not supported well after reduction. Either way, your right ZMC complex is displaced downward showing the visible problems of orbital dystopia (eyeball in lower position than the other side) and the cheek bone being displaced downward and outward with increased midfacial width.
Your facial problems can be improved by a revision or re-do of your original facial fracture repair. This would be a zygomatico-orbital osteotomy with bone grafts to lift the eye back up and reshape the cheek area. Before considering this surgery, you need to have a 3-D CT scan to confirm this diagnosis and provide a detailed assessment of these and the surrounding facial bones.

Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana