ORBITAL CELLULITIS - AN UNUSUAL PRESENTATION AND LATE COMPLICATION OFSEVERE FACIAL TRAUMA

We report an unusual case of orbital cellulitis in a patient with only one seeing eye and severe facial asymmetry secondary to a road traffi c accident twenty two years previously. Facial trauma sustained in the road traffic accident created continuity between the right orbit and the adjacent ethmoidal cells. The abnormal communication between the e thmoidal labyrinth and the right orbit rendered this patient highly su sceptible to an orbital cellulitis from an adjacent paranasal sinus in fection. However, this case is unusual with regard to the length of ti me that elapsed before such an infection became manifest and the prese nce of gross distortion of anatomy masked the usual presentation and t hereby caused a delay in diagnosis.