Other Medical Conditions
Various medical conditions can cause sunken eyes or enophthalmos. Some of the diseases involve a weakening of the orbital floor (chronic maxillary sinus atelectasis), deformation of the facial bones (neurofibromatosis), changes in fat distribution (Parry-Romberg syndrome), viral infection (human immunodeficiency virus), bulging of the eyes resulting from an overactive thyroid (Grave’s disease), reduction of blood flow to the brain (stroke), and thickening of tissues and skin due to problems with the immune system (scleroderma).
Though the medical conditions hail from different origins, all of them somehow affect the orbital floor, the sinus cavities in the cheeks, and the nerves and blood vessels in the face, resulting in the recession of the ocular globe and the soft skin of the eyes. When it happens, the resulting condition is what is known as enophthalmos or sunken eyes.
Treating the asymmetry resulting from unilateral hollowing of the eye area often calls for treating the underlying medical condition. Some, however, require undergoing various procedures, including orbital repair, tumors, bones, fat removal, or reconstruction of the eye socket’s anatomy relative to the globe’s recession into the bony orbit.
