CT and MRI Before Orbit Surgery: How Imaging Maps the Eye Socket and Guides the Approach

The radiology waiting room has a particular hush. A man in his forties sits with a printout in his lap: orders for a CT of the orbits, then an MRI a week later. He came in for what he thought was a cosmetic problem, one eye pushed forward and lids that no longer matched, and now he has two scans booked and a surgeon talking about bone. He wants to know what the pictures are for.

That question is the whole point of an orbit surgery CT scan. The eye socket is a cone of seven thin bones packed with the eyeball, six muscles, fat, tear glands, arteries and the optic nerve, with the brain and the sinuses as immediate neighbors. Nobody operates in that space without a map.

This explainer walks through what CT shows, what MRI adds, how the scan day runs, and how surgeons turn grey pictures into a plan for the approach.

What does an orbit surgery CT scan actually show?

CT stands for computed tomography: an X-ray tube circles the head while detectors record how much each beam is weakened, and a computer rebuilds the data into cross-sectional slices. For the orbit, the slices are thin and the pictures can be reformatted in three planes, side to side (axial), front to back (coronal) and top to bottom (sagittal), plus a 3D surface rendering if the surgeon wants one.

Bone is where CT earns its keep. The orbital floor and the medial wall, the one facing the nose, are often no thicker than an eggshell in places, and CT shows every dip, gap and fragment. Surgeons look at how much of a wall is missing, whether fat or muscle has slipped through into the sinus below, and where the solid bone begins again so a repair has something to rest on. They also trace the optic canal, the bony tunnel at the back of the socket through which the optic nerve passes to the brain, because that is the landmark that must never be disturbed.

Soft tissues appear too, though in less detail than on MRI. The eye muscles show as grey bands, orbital fat looks dark, and a mass or bleed shows as a denser patch. If iodine-based contrast dye is injected through a vein, blood vessels and inflamed or tumor tissue brighten, which helps separate one thing from another. According to MedlinePlus, the scan itself takes only minutes, and the whole visit is usually well under an hour.

Radiologists also read the neighborhood: the ethmoid air cells beside the orbit, the maxillary sinus beneath it, and the frontal sinus above. For a decompression, where bone is removed to give a swollen orbit more room, those sinuses are literally where the extra space will come from, so their size and health matter as much as the orbit itself.

What is the protocol for an orbit CT scan on the day?

People searching for an orbit CT scan protocol usually want two things: the technical recipe and the practical run of events. The recipe is set by the radiology department and tuned to the question the surgeon is asking. Most pre-surgical orbit protocols use thin slices through the socket, a dedicated bone reconstruction to sharpen edges, and a soft-tissue reconstruction for muscles and fat. Some add a contrast phase; fracture protocols often do not.

The practical side is simpler than most people fear. You lie on your back on a narrow table that slides into a ring-shaped scanner, open at both ends. A cushion steadies the head. The technologist may ask you to look straight ahead and keep the eyes still, because eye movement blurs the very structures the surgeon cares about. Mayo Clinic notes that the entire CT appointment typically takes about 30 minutes, with the scanning itself lasting only a few minutes.

Preparation depends on contrast. MedlinePlus advises that when dye is planned you may be asked not to eat or drink for 4 to 6 hours beforehand, and you will be asked about allergies to contrast, iodine or shellfish, about kidney disease, and about diabetes medicines that may need a pause around the dye; that decision belongs to the ordering clinician, not the leaflet. A blood test of kidney function is common before contrast in older adults or anyone with a kidney history. Metal near the eyes, such as glasses, hairpins and some jewelry, comes off because it scatters the beam and creates streaks across the image.

Once the scan finishes, you can normally leave straight away. A radiologist, a doctor who specializes in reading images, writes a formal report, and the surgeon reviews both the report and the raw images, often measuring distances directly on the screen.

Why surgeons order MRI orbits with contrast as well as CT

MRI, magnetic resonance imaging, uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves rather than X-rays. Hydrogen atoms in water and fat line up with the field, get nudged by a radio pulse, and give off a signal as they relax back. Different tissues relax at different speeds, which is why MRI separates muscle from fat from nerve far more cleanly than CT does.

In the orbit, that separation answers questions bone cannot. Is an enlarged muscle swollen with active inflammation, or scarred and quiet? Does a mass sit inside the cone of muscles, pressing the optic nerve, or outside it? Is the optic nerve itself thickened, and does its sheath enhance with gadolinium, the MRI contrast agent that brightens inflamed or tumor tissue? Has a lesion tracked backward through the orbital apex toward the skull base? Each answer can change the approach, the timing, or whether an operation is the right step at all.

MRI also has limits worth being honest about. Cortical bone contains almost no water, so it appears as a black void; fractures and thin walls are hard to judge. Scans take longer. Mayo Clinic describes MRI examinations lasting from 15 minutes to more than an hour, during which the head must stay still inside a tunnel while the machine knocks and buzzes. Eye motion over that stretch blurs fine detail, so technologists coach breathing and fixation.

Safety screening is stricter, too. Pacemakers, some aneurysm clips, cochlear implants and, importantly for orbit patients, metal fragments in or near the eye must be declared. Anyone who has worked with metal grinding or been near shrapnel may need a plain X-ray of the orbits first to rule out a hidden fragment that the magnet could move. Together, CT for the frame and MRI for the contents give surgeons a complete picture.

Can a CT scan detect an orbital fracture?

Yes, and it is the standard test for exactly that job. A plain X-ray can hint at a fracture, a hazy sinus, a teardrop of tissue hanging from the orbital roof, but it misses many smaller breaks and cannot show what has dropped through the gap. A CT scan orbital fracture study shows the break itself, the size of the defect, and the position of the muscle and fat relative to the hole.

The classic injury is the blowout fracture. A fist, a ball or a dashboard strikes the eye, pressure inside the socket spikes, and the thinnest wall gives way while the rim stays intact. The floor and medial wall are the usual casualties. On coronal CT the surgeon looks for three things: how large the defect is, whether the inferior rectus muscle (the muscle that pulls the eye downward) is trapped or kinked in the fracture line, and how much orbital contents have herniated into the sinus. Those findings, combined with the eye examination, feed the decision about whether and when to repair.

CT also flags the injuries that change urgency. Bleeding behind the eye that raises pressure, air tracking into the orbit, a foreign body, a fracture line running into the optic canal, or damage to the roof with a possible leak of the fluid around the brain all show up and can move a patient from a planned clinic pathway to a same-day conversation with the on-call team.

In children the picture can be subtler. Young bone bends and snaps back like a green twig, sometimes trapping muscle in a fracture that looks small on the scan. Radiologists and surgeons weigh the images against symptoms such as pain and nausea on eye movement, which is why the scan is never read in isolation from the clinical examination.

Which scan for which problem: a side-by-side view

No single sequence suits every orbit operation. The table below summarizes how surgeons commonly match imaging to the question, drawing on the strengths described by MedlinePlus, Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic. It is a general guide; your own protocol will be chosen by your radiologist and surgeon.

Situation	Usual first choice	What it answers	Often added
Blunt trauma, suspected fracture	CT without contrast, thin slices, coronal reformats	Defect size, trapped muscle, herniated fat, bleeding	MRI only if nerve or muscle injury is unclear
Thyroid eye disease, planned decompression	CT for bone and sinuses	Wall thickness, sinus size, apex crowding	MRI to gauge muscle inflammation versus scarring
Suspected tumor or mass	MRI with contrast	Location, extent, relation to optic nerve, spread toward skull base	CT to show bone erosion or calcification
Suspected metal foreign body	CT	Exact position of fragment	MRI avoided until metal excluded
Vascular lesion or abnormal blood flow	MRI with contrast; CT angiography in selected cases	Flow pattern, feeding vessels	Catheter angiography if intervention planned
Cosmetic or reconstructive lid and socket work after previous surgery	CT	Position of implants, plates and remodeled bone	MRI if soft-tissue scarring is the concern

Two patterns stand out. Bone questions send you to CT; soft-tissue questions send you to MRI. When a surgeon wants both, it is not indecision. Orbit surgery sits at the junction of bone and nerve, and each modality is blind to something the other sees plainly. Reading the two together, sometimes overlaid on one screen, is how the team avoids surprises.

Who is usually scanned, and who is usually asked to wait

Almost anyone heading toward an operation inside or around the eye socket will be imaged first. That includes people with fractures, with bulging eyes from thyroid eye disease, with a suspected growth, with a foreign body, and with cosmetic or reconstructive goals that involve moving bone or placing an implant. Surgeons also image before revising previous work, because scar and old plates change the landscape.

A smaller group is asked to pause or to switch tests. Pregnancy is the classic reason to think twice about CT. The orbit sits far from the uterus and the fetal dose from a head scan is very small, but many teams still prefer MRI when the question allows, and the choice is made jointly with the patient, as Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus both advise informing staff about any possible pregnancy.

Contrast is the second gate. People with a previous serious reaction to iodine contrast, or with significantly reduced kidney function, may be scanned without dye, given medicines beforehand under the prescribing clinician’s direction, or moved to MRI. Gadolinium has its own caution list, chiefly severe kidney impairment, so the same conversation happens in reverse for MRI.

Metal governs MRI eligibility. Older pacemakers, certain clips, some implanted pumps and unknown fragments near the eye may rule the scan out or require a specific protocol. Cleveland Clinic lists these among the standard screening questions; answer them fully even if they feel irrelevant.

Timing matters as much as eligibility. After acute trauma, surgeons often wait several days for swelling to settle before deciding on repair, and the scan taken in the emergency department may be repeated closer to the operation. In thyroid eye disease, most teams wait until the inflammatory phase has quietened before decompression, because operating on an actively changing orbit makes the outcome harder to predict. Those waits are not delays for their own sake; they are the surgeon letting the anatomy stop moving before drawing the map.

How imaging guides the surgical approach to the eye socket

The orbit can be entered through several doors, and the scan decides which one opens onto the problem. A transconjunctival approach goes through the inner lining of the lower lid and leaves no skin scar; it suits floor fractures and floor and medial wall decompressions. A lateral approach uses the crease beside the outer corner of the eye or the upper lid fold and reaches the lateral wall and the deep lateral fat. An endoscopic route travels through the nose and sinuses to the medial wall without any facial incision. Upper lid and brow incisions reach the roof. For deep lesions near the apex, a neurosurgical or craniofacial team may join.

CT tells the surgeon where the bone is thick enough to remove safely and where it is dangerously thin. In a decompression, the goal is to take away specific walls so that swollen fat and muscle can expand outward and the eye settles back. The images show the size of the ethmoid air cells, whether the maxillary sinus is healthy enough to receive orbital contents, and how close the removal would come to the optic canal. They also show the position of the infraorbital nerve, the sensory nerve to the cheek and upper lip that runs in a groove along the floor and is easy to bruise.

MRI shapes the plan for masses. A lesion lying outside the muscle cone might be reached through the lid; one wrapped around the optic nerve needs a very different discussion. The relationship to the superior orbital fissure and the apex, where nerves and vessels crowd together, can decide between removal, biopsy or observation.

Measurements come out of the same pictures: how far the eye protrudes relative to the lateral rim, how the two sides differ, and how much volume a fracture has added to the socket. Those numbers become the surgeon’s targets and, later, the yardstick for follow-up.

Surgical navigation: turning scans into a map in the operating room

Many orbital teams now load the preoperative CT, and sometimes a fused CT and MRI dataset, into a navigation system. The idea is borrowed from satellite mapping. A tracker attached to the patient’s head and a pointer held by the surgeon are followed by an infrared camera; the system displays the pointer’s tip on the scan in three planes in real time. Touch the back edge of a fracture and the screen confirms, to within about a millimeter, that you are where you think you are.

Fusion adds MRI’s soft-tissue detail to CT’s bone. The software aligns the two datasets using shared landmarks, so a surgeon can see a tumor’s margins from the MRI painted onto the bony map from the CT. Deep in the orbit, where the working space is narrow and the view is partly blocked by fat, that combined image helps the team stay oriented near the apex and the optic canal.

Navigation does not remove the need for judgment. Registration, the step that matches the patient’s head to the scan, can drift if the tracker moves, and swelling or bleeding during the operation changes tissue positions that the scan cannot update. Surgeons still rely on direct sight, on feel and on anatomical landmarks. Think of the screen as a second opinion that never blinks, not as an autopilot.

For patients, navigation changes little about the experience. The scan protocol may include a few extra slices or a slightly different head position so the software can register properly, and you may be asked to avoid any facial procedures between the scan and the operation. Some centers also take a CT after the repair to compare the implant position with the plan; whether that is done routinely or only when there is a concern varies by team and by case.

Radiation, contrast and safety: what the evidence actually shows

Radiation is the question people are most likely to hold back, so here are the numbers. Harvard Health puts the effective dose of a head CT at about 2 millisieverts, roughly two thirds of the 3 millisieverts an average person absorbs each year from natural background sources such as radon, cosmic rays and the earth itself. A dedicated orbit study is in the same neighborhood, and modern scanners use dose-reduction software, shielding of the lens where it does not spoil the image, and protocols tuned to the smallest field that answers the question.

The lens of the eye is more sensitive to radiation than most tissues, which is why radiologists keep orbit doses low and avoid repeating scans without a clear reason. The NIH’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering describes the balance plainly: the small, theoretical long-term risk of a single CT is weighed against the immediate benefit of a diagnosis that shapes treatment. For someone about to have bone removed within millimeters of the optic nerve, that benefit is not abstract.

Iodine contrast carries its own, separate risks. Mild reactions such as warmth, a metallic taste or nausea are common and pass quickly. True allergic-type reactions are uncommon, and severe ones are rare; MedlinePlus advises telling staff about any previous reaction so precautions can be planned. Kidney strain is the other concern, which is why kidney function is checked in people at risk and hydration is encouraged afterward.

MRI involves no ionizing radiation. Its hazards are magnetic: metal projectiles, heating of some implants, and movement of ferromagnetic fragments. Gadolinium contrast is generally well tolerated; the main caution is severe kidney disease, and some gadolinium is retained in tissues over time with no proven harm identified in people with normal kidneys, according to Mayo Clinic. The technologist’s questionnaire is long for a reason. Fill it in honestly, and the scan is one of the safer things you will do that week.

What the days and weeks around scanning and surgery usually look like

The sequence is fairly predictable, even if the calendar varies. First comes the clinic visit, where the surgeon examines the eyes, measures how far each protrudes, checks the vision, color perception and eye movements, and decides which imaging to request. The scans follow, sometimes on the same day for CT, usually within a couple of weeks for MRI depending on local scheduling. Results are typically reported within a few days, and you will normally hear about them at a planned follow-up rather than by an unexplained phone call.

Between scan and operation, teams often ask for stability. If your thyroid levels are still moving, the endocrinologist may want them settled first. If you smoke, expect a frank conversation, because smoking worsens thyroid eye disease and slows bone and soft-tissue healing. Blood tests, a review of medicines that affect bleeding, and an anesthesia assessment slot in here. None of this changes on your own initiative; any medicine adjustment is agreed with the prescribing clinician.

Surgery itself is usually a day case or a single overnight stay, under general anesthesia for most orbital work. Afterward, swelling and bruising peak over the first 2 to 3 days and then fade over about two weeks, and double vision can appear or shift temporarily as muscles adapt to their new space; Cleveland Clinic and NHS patient guidance describe this pattern for orbital fracture repair and decompression. Vision checks happen early and often, because the one complication everyone watches for is bleeding behind the eye.

Follow-up visits track eye position, movement and the wound. Repeat imaging is not automatic. Some surgeons obtain a postoperative CT to confirm implant placement, others scan only if the examination raises a question. Final position of the eye continues to settle for several months, which is why judgments about symmetry, and about any second-stage lid procedure, are usually deferred until the tissues have finished healing.

How risky is orbital surgery, and how imaging changes that conversation

Orbital surgery is precise work in a crowded space, and its risks follow directly from the anatomy. The complications surgeons discuss in consent include bleeding behind the eye, which can raise pressure and threaten sight if not released quickly; injury to the optic nerve; new or worsened double vision from muscle disturbance; numbness of the cheek and upper lip from the infraorbital nerve; infection; displacement of an implant; lid position changes; and, for endoscopic and decompression cases, a leak of the fluid around the brain or damage to the tear drainage system. Serious sight-threatening events are uncommon, but they are real, and no honest surgeon presents them as impossible.

Imaging reduces uncertainty rather than eliminating risk. A CT that shows a thick, healthy sinus wall and an optic canal well away from the planned bone removal makes a decompression more predictable. An MRI that reveals a mass draped around the optic nerve may steer the team toward a biopsy or toward observation instead of a large operation, which is itself a form of risk reduction. Foreign-body imaging prevents the specific disaster of taking a patient with an iron fragment into an MRI scanner.

The numbers you will hear should be tied to your own situation. Published risk figures vary widely with the type of operation, the reason for it, the depth of the lesion and whether it is a first or a revision procedure, so a percentage quoted for one series may not apply to you. Ask your surgeon which figures come from their own audited experience, which come from national guidance, and which are estimates.

Above all, remember that the alternative to surgery also carries risk. An untreated large fracture can leave a sunken eye and permanent double vision; compressive optic neuropathy in thyroid eye disease can cost sight. The scan is what lets the team weigh those two sets of risks with the same clarity.

What people often get wrong about orbit imaging

Myth: if I had a head CT in the emergency room, I do not need another scan. A standard head CT is optimized for the brain, with thicker slices and a wider field. It may show a fracture, but it rarely gives the thin coronal detail a surgeon needs to size a defect or plan a decompression. A dedicated orbit protocol is a different study, not a repeat of the same one.

Myth: MRI is always better because it has no radiation. MRI is better for soft tissue and worse for bone. Choosing it for a fracture would be like using a thermal camera to read a blueprint. The right test is the one that answers the question.

Myth: contrast means something serious is suspected. Contrast is a tool for separating tissues that would otherwise look alike. It is used for inflammation, for vessels and for routine characterization, and its presence on your order form is not a coded message about cancer.

Myth: a clear scan means surgery is safe, or an abnormal scan means surgery is needed. Scans describe anatomy; they do not make decisions. Plenty of fractures visible on CT heal without an operation, and plenty of decompressions are planned on scans that look unremarkable to an untrained eye. The examination, the symptoms and the patient’s goals carry equal weight.

Myth: 3D reconstructions are more accurate than the slices. The 3D image is built from the same data and is useful for communicating shape, but fine measurements come from the thin slices. Surgeons plan on the slices and explain on the render.

Myth: cosmetic orbit procedures do not need imaging. Any operation that moves bone, places an implant or works near the apex needs a map, whatever the motivation. Aesthetic goals change what the surgeon is aiming for, not how much they need to see.

Questions to ask your care team before an orbit CT or MRI

A good consultation leaves you knowing why each scan was chosen and what would change if the result came back one way or another. Bring the list below and write down the answers; it is easy to lose detail in a busy clinic.

• Which scan are you ordering first, and what specific question is it meant to answer?
• Will contrast be used, and what have you checked about my kidneys and allergy history before deciding?
• Is there any reason I should have MRI rather than CT, or the other way around, given my history?
• Have I ever had metal near my eyes, and do you want a screening X-ray before the MRI?
• Will you use the images for navigation during the operation, and does that change how the scan is done?
• Which approach are you considering, through the lid, through the nose or from the side, and what on the scan led you there?
• What would you do if the scan showed the problem extends further back than expected?
• Will you repeat the imaging closer to surgery, or afterward, and what would prompt that?
• What are the specific risks for my operation, and how do they compare with not operating?
• How long should I expect swelling, bruising and double vision to last, based on your own patients?
• Whom do I call, day or night, if my vision changes after surgery?
• Can I have a copy of my images and the radiology report for my records?

You are entitled to answers in plain language. If a term goes past you, ask for it again with a drawing; orbital surgeons sketch cones and boxes all day and are usually glad to do it. Some people find it helpful to bring a companion to listen, or to ask whether the consultation can be recorded on a phone. The decision to proceed, to wait or to choose a different path remains a shared one between you and the treating team, and it should feel that way.

When to call your doctor: red-flag signs before and after orbit surgery

Most people move through imaging and surgery without drama, but a short list of symptoms should never wait for a scheduled appointment. Before surgery, while you are waiting for scans or results, contact the team promptly if you notice a sudden drop in vision or a new grey or dim patch in one eye, colors looking washed out on one side, rapidly increasing bulging of the eye, severe deep pain, or double vision that appears or worsens over hours rather than weeks. These can signal pressure on the optic nerve, which is treated as urgent regardless of what the calendar says.

After a CT with contrast, seek care the same day for hives spreading beyond the injection site, swelling of the lips or face, wheeze, or feeling faint; go to an emergency department if breathing is affected. Pain, redness and swelling growing at the injection site over the following day also deserve a call.

After surgery, the sign everyone is watching for is bleeding behind the eye. Call the number you were given immediately, or go to an emergency department, if you have sudden severe pain, a hard tense feeling around the eye, rapid swelling, the eye pushing forward, or any loss of vision, even briefly. Do not wait to see if it settles. Other reasons to call the same day include fever with a hot, red, increasingly swollen eyelid; clear watery fluid dripping from the nose after an endoscopic or medial wall procedure, particularly when leaning forward; persistent vomiting; or numbness that spreads rather than fades.

Vision that seems slightly blurry from ointment, mild bruising, a scratchy feeling and some early double vision are common in the first days and are usually discussed at the planned review. When in doubt, your surgical team would rather take a call about something minor than miss something urgent. Keep the emergency contact number on your phone, not in a drawer.

Frequently asked questions

What does an orbit CT scan show?

An orbit CT scan shows the seven bones of the eye socket in fine detail, including fractures, wall thickness, the optic canal and the neighboring sinuses. It also displays the eye muscles, fat, any bleeding or foreign body, and, with contrast, blood vessels and inflamed tissue. Surgeons use it to measure defects and plan where bone can be safely removed or repaired.

What is the orbit CT scan protocol before surgery?

Most pre-surgical orbit CT protocols use thin slices through the socket with bone and soft-tissue reconstructions in axial, coronal and sagittal planes, sometimes with an intravenous contrast phase. On the day you lie still on a scanner table for a few minutes, keep your eyes fixed straight ahead, remove glasses and metal, and, if contrast is planned, may be asked to fast for several hours beforehand.

Can a CT scan detect an orbital fracture?

Yes. CT is the test of choice for orbital fractures. It shows the break, how much of the floor or medial wall is missing, whether the inferior rectus muscle is trapped, and how much fat has herniated into the sinus. It also picks up bleeding, air, foreign bodies and fracture lines extending toward the optic canal, which affect how urgently the injury is managed.

Why do I need an MRI orbits with contrast as well as a CT?

MRI separates soft tissues that CT blurs together. With gadolinium contrast it shows whether eye muscles are actively inflamed, where a mass sits relative to the optic nerve, and whether disease extends toward the orbital apex or skull base. CT remains better for bone, so surgeons often want both: one for the frame, one for the contents.

How risky is orbital surgery?

Risks depend on the operation, its depth and the reason for it. Surgeons discuss bleeding behind the eye, optic nerve injury, double vision, cheek numbness, infection and implant displacement. Sight-threatening complications are uncommon but real. Imaging lowers uncertainty by mapping the optic canal and nearby structures. Ask your surgeon for figures specific to your procedure rather than general averages.

How much radiation does an orbit CT involve?

Harvard Health lists a head CT at about 2 millisieverts, compared with roughly 3 millisieverts a year from natural background radiation. Orbit protocols are in the same range and use dose-reduction techniques because the lens is radiation-sensitive. The small theoretical long-term risk is weighed against the immediate benefit of a precise surgical plan, a trade most clinicians consider clearly favorable.

Is contrast dye safe for an orbit scan?

For most people, yes. Mild effects such as warmth or a metallic taste are common and brief. Serious allergic reactions are rare, and kidney strain is the main other concern, so kidney function is checked in those at risk. Tell staff about previous reactions, kidney disease, diabetes medicines and possible pregnancy; the ordering clinician decides whether contrast is used and how.

Will my ct scan orbital fracture images be used during the operation?

Often, yes. Many teams load the CT into a navigation system that tracks the surgeon’s instrument on the scan in real time, and some fuse CT with MRI to add soft-tissue detail. This helps orientation near the optic canal and confirms implant position. It supports, rather than replaces, the surgeon’s direct view and anatomical judgment.

How long after a facial injury should the orbit CT be done?

In most emergency settings CT is done at presentation to identify fractures, bleeding and foreign bodies. Surgeons then often wait several days for swelling to settle before deciding on repair, and may repeat or reformat imaging closer to surgery. Urgent signs such as vision loss, a tense eye or a muscle trapped in a child’s fracture shorten that timeline.

Do I need imaging for a cosmetic orbit or eyelid procedure?

Surgery limited to skin and eyelid tissue often needs no scan. Any procedure that removes or repositions bone, places an implant, works near the orbital apex or revises previous orbital surgery generally does, because the anatomy must be mapped regardless of the motivation. Your surgeon will decide based on what the operation involves, not on whether it is labeled cosmetic.

References

• MedlinePlus: Orbit CT scan
• Cleveland Clinic: CT (Computed Tomography) Scan
• NIH National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering: Computed Tomography (CT)

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.