Reasons and Risks Involved In Orbital X-Rays

By Ashley | February 11, 2010

Orbital x-rays are a procedure that is used to x-ray image the frontal or lateral areas of the face in order to specifically image the areas of the eye. The human eye is one of the most complex and sensitive organs of the body. It is housed inside the casing of bone that envelops it. There are some layers of tissues that exist below it and then cover the eye. The main reason for this procedure to be performed is when there is some kind of traumatic injury to the eye or the orbital planes of bone as is the case of a blowout fracture. The technique can also be use to check for any kind of foreign object ending up in the eye. The x-ray can be taken from either a front position or it can be taken from a lateral position. These two positions are usually quite adequate to ensure that the entire eye and supporting orbital bones are completely mapped out and scanned.


A fracture in these orbits is a serious problem especially if the bone has fragmented. This will then require some major eye surgery to also ensure that there are no pieces of bone that is left in the area of the eye. There are very rare instances of any other causative factor resulting in an orbital fracture except trauma. However, this does not mean that the problem cannot be caused by some kind of cancerous development in the area. The x-raying technique that is used during this procedure is a single x-ray that accommodates the lateral and the front views.


There are no risks to this procedure at all. Unlike other x-ray based techniques like tomography and fluoroscopy. This x-ray procedure is pretty much the same as the procedure to x-ray a broken wrist. This means that the exposure is usually no more than just a few seconds where a photosensitive plate is placed behind the area to be analyzed and an x-ray burst is shot out. The x-rays then form an image by passing right through the tissue; however, since the bones absorb this radiation, the bones form a shadow in the image. This allows the technician or the doctor to easily ascertain if there are any fractures or other types of problems. Considering the costs that are involved in more elaborate test like magnetic resonance imaging, this remains one of the most effective alternatives.