Because of the prominance of the nose and its central location, it is the most frequently encountered fractures in the face. Yet reports about the nasal bone fractures are virtually rare in the oral and maxillofacial surgical literatures.
This is a retrospective study on 19 nasal bone fractures treated in Chosun university hospital, Department of Oral & Maxillfacial Surgery from Jan. 1991 to Sep. 1993, under admission to our Dept. and the obtained results were as follows.
1. Of the 240 patients with facial bone fractures, 28 patients suffered nasal fractures(12%) and male to female ratio was 5.3 : 1.
2. The most frequent cause was traffic accidents(39%), the next fall down(36%), fist blow(4%).
3. The age frequency was the highest in the fifith decade (32%).
4. Clinical classification of nasal fractures was simple fractures(74%), comminuted fractures(26%), and single fractures(37%), combined fractures(63%).
5. The most frequently combined site was maxilla(50%).
6. Treatments of nasal fractures were closed reduction(63%), open reduction(5%), and secondary rhinoplasty(32%).
7. The initial treatment time from accident was 1.7 days in single fractures, and 3.5 days in combined fractures, and the period of splint retained was about 8.2 days in single fracture, about 8.7 in combined fracture.
8. It was necessary to treat secondarily in delayed treatment, and all treatment methods showed relatively good progonosis.
9. Closed reduction was treated under local anesthesia, but open reduction & secondary rhinoplasty was treated under general anesthesia except 1 case.
10. The complications were disturbance of swelling 5 cases, ethetic problem 5 cases, epiphora 3 cases, abnormal sensation 6 cases in relation with other fractures.
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