Facial fractures--the results of a prospective four-year-study.

A prospective four-year-study of 945 fractures of the facial skeleton is presented. Details of facial trauma were collected in patients referred from the Bradford and Airedale Districts of West Yorkshire, England, an area with a population slightly in excess of half a million. Statistical analysis shows variations from previously published papers, the male to female ratio being under 2.6:1, with an average of 1.15 fractures per patient. A relatively high incidence of sports fractures is reported but the number of industrial accidents is surprisingly low. The majority of patients seen were in their third decade, the mean age being just over 25 years. The analysis also reveals that a high percentage of fractures were treated conservatively.