NEW APPROACH TO THE SURGICAL-TREATMENT OF SEVERE EXOPHTHALMOS IN GRAVES-DISEASE

In the last few years, various surgical techniques to correct orbital decompression in patients with Graves ophthalmopathy have been propose d. In those patients in whom a high degree of exophthalmos is mainly t he result of the hypertrophied endorbital muscles with respect to endo rbital fat hypertrophy, lipectomy is insufficient to obtain an accepta ble increase of endorbital volume. The authors propose a method that p rovides for the monobloc bilateral quadrantotomy by extracranial acces s. Despite traditional methods of decompression, the advantage of this technique is better advancement of the orbital margins. The bicoronal and endoral incisions guarantee no facial scars. Compared with the cr aniotomy, the extracranial access is also less stressful for the patie nt.