Abstract
One hundred and fifty patients with postoperative maxillary cysts were treated at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital between 1988 and 1999. Twenty-one of these cases exhibited ocular symptoms. These ocular symptoms included exophthalmos, diplopia, epiphora, and reduced vision.Exophthalmos and epiphora are frequently occurring symptoms. The former symptom is common in patients with central maxillary cysts, while the latter is common in patients with supramedial cysts.
Reduced vision is rare in patients with maxillary cysts, and its pathophysiology is thought to differ from that which is associated with ethmoid and/or sphenoid paranasal sinus cysts.
In the present study, 2 patients experienced a reduction in vision as a direct result of the cyst having invaded the orbita. The eyeball was deformed in both cases, and the reduction in vision is thought to have been produced by retinal degeneration. Prompt surgical treatment and a full ophthalmologic examination, including intraorbital pressure and an examination of the retina, is thus advised to alleviate reductions in vision associated with postoperative maxillary cysts.
