Are post-operative radiographs necessary in the management of simple fractures of the zygomatic complex?

Post-operative radiographs are usually requested, as an adjunct to clinical judgement, in the management of fractures of the facial skeleton. Unfortunately exposure to X-irradiation is not without risk. The request for radiographs should, therefore, be justified in every case. In this retrospective survey involving 183 simple fractures of the zygomatic complex, all treated via a Gillies temporal approach, only one required a further operation, under the criteria described. The findings in this study might be taken as evidence that clinical judgement alone is sufficient for post-operative evaluation and as such offers a challenge to the accepted protocol of requesting post-operative radiographs in such cases.