title: A case of isolated abducens nerve paralysis in maxillofacial trauma.
abstract: Nervus abducens is a pure motor nerve located in the pons. It retracts the eyeball laterally by stimulating rectus lateralis muscle. In case of their paralysis, diplopia and restriction in the eye movements while looking sideways, are seen. Since the same signs are seen due to the muscle entrapment in blowout fractures, its differential diagnosis has importance in terms of the treatment protocol and avoiding unnecessary operations. In this article, we present a 22-year-old male patient who was referred to our department due to the prediagnosis of blowout fracture following maxillofacial trauma. However, he was diagnosed with abducens nerve paralysis after the consultations and analysis and his restriction of movement was resolved via systemic steroid treatment instead of unnecessary operation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Elif Seda
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Keskin
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ekrem
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Keskin
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Bekir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Atik
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Abdülkadir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koçer
keywords: Blow out fracture; diplopia; nervus abducens paralysis; restriction in looking sideways