Principles of management of complex craniofacial trauma

Successful treatment of patients with complex craniofacial injuries is heavily dependent on the surgeon's appreciation of the associated nonfacial injuries, precise clinical and diagnostic imaging examinations to establish a three-dimensional configuration of the fractured segments, and the application of well-established principles of facial fracture repair. Factors that influence improved treatment outcome are 1) early definitive treatment, 2) anatomic and functional repair of naso-orbito-ethmoidal injuries, 3) wide exposure of fracture segments, and 4) anatomic repositioning and stable fixation of fracture segments in all planes of space.