Delayed and inadequately treated malar fractures: evolution in the treatment, presentation of 77 cases, and review of the literature.

Seventy-seven cases of delayed or inadequately treated zygoma fractures, treated between 1977 and 1999 in the Maxillofacial Surgery Division of the La Sapienza University in Rome, are presented. The functional and aesthetic problems caused by this pathology are analyzed. The results achieved resolve some of the various aspects of inadequately treated malar fractures. These are possible because of the development of great biomaterials and the introduction of rigid internal fixation. As a consequence the surgical techniques have been revolutionized. Cases, with functional-aesthetic deficits or only aesthetic deficits, are studied separately. An accurate preoperative study permits the operation suitable for the specific features of the individual case to be carried out.