Tripod fracture

Tripod fracture. This is the most common type of facial bone fracture, and involves the separation of all three connections between the zygoma and the rest of the face. Two of the fracture components are visible on this view of the facial bones (yellow arrows). Frequently, facial bone fractures are very subtle on radiographs. In these cases we depend on the presence of indirect signs – the presence of blood in the adjacent maxillary sinus (note the opacification of the maxillary sinus by blood in this case, white arrow, compared to the normally aerated sinus on the right), or the presence of air in the orbit, which has leaked out of the sinus because of the fracture. If clinical suspicion is high but radiographs are normal or indeterminate, we perform a CT facial bones.