Traumatic Optic Nerve Injuries

Traumatic optic nerve injuries are a devastating result of head and facial trauma (41) . Approximately 5% of head trauma results in damage to the visual axis and 3% of facial fractures may result in complete blindness {13). Turner reviewed 1550 head injuries of varying severity and found the incidence of optic nerve injuries to be 1.5% (71). The evaluation of visual function in these patients is often difficult due to altered consciousness or the complexity of their trauma. If damage to the visual system beyond the globe is suspected, the use and timing of specific therapy (steroids, surgical decompression) remains controversial (32,50).