Inferior oblique muscle location after enucleation and evisceration

PURPOSE: To report the location of the inferior oblique muscle after enucle ation without primary attachment of the muscle to the orbital implant and a fter evisceration. METHODS: Interventional case series. Retrospectively, eight orbital magneti c resonance imaging (MRI) studies were analyzed, four after enucleation and four after evisceration, to assess the position of the inferior oblique mu scle relative to the orbital implant and the point of insertion. RESULTS: In the enucleation patients, the inferior oblique muscle was anter iorly displaced and the muscle appeared to insert into an inferior subconju nctival scar mass in three of the four patients. In all four of the eviscer ation patients, the inferior oblique muscle appeared normally positioned an d inserted onto the implant in the normal location. CONCLUSION: Enucleation without suturing of the inferior oblique muscle to the implant is associated with healing in an abnormal anterior location and into an inferior subconjunctival scar mass. Evisceration does not appear t o disrupt the normal position or insertion of the inferior oblique muscle. (C) 2001 by Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.