Infraorbital Nerve Injury in Zygomaticomaxillary Complex Fractures in Patients Presenting to Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37762/jgmds.13-4.881Keywords:
Infraorbital Nerve Injury, ZMC Fracture, Paraesthesia, Bilatera Fractures, Facial TraumaAbstract
OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to analyse the frequency and trends of infraorbital nerve (ION) damage in zygomaticomaxillary complex (ZMC) fractures.
METHODOLOGY
We conducted a cross-sectional analytical study at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad, from January 2025 to June 2025. We recruited 132 ZMC fracture patients through non-probability consecutive sampling. Information on age, gender, aetiology and mechanism of trauma, fracture side, and ION injury presence and type was obtained. We assessed infraorbital nerve injury using neurosensory testing and graded it as paraesthesia, anaesthesia, or hypoesthesia. Data were analysed using SPSS, with p < 0.05 considered significant.
RESULTS
Of the 132 patients, 68 (51.52%) were male, and 64 (48.48%) were female. ION injury was seen in 88 (66.67%) patients, with paraesthesia being the most prevalent type (34.09%), followed by anaesthesia (23.48%) and hypoesthesia (9.09%). There was a statistically significant relationship between gender and ION injury (p < 0.001), and between fracture laterality and ION injury, with 97.5% of bilateral fractures having nerve involvement (p < 0.001). However, the aetiology of trauma was not significantly correlated with ION injury (p = 0.191).
CONCLUSION
ION injury is a common sequel of ZMC fractures, paraesthesia being the most frequent presentation. Male gender and bilateral fractures were correlated with increased injury rates, underlining the necessity of early neurosensory evaluation.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Aqsa Munir, Khurshid Alam, Marium Jadoon, Sidra Qadir, Bakhtawer Aziz, Ammara Saleem, Asim Qureshi
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