Medical Management of Periorbital Necrotising Fasciitis

Abstract

Necrotising fasciitis (NF) is a rapidly progressing necrotizing infection of the subcutaneous tissue and superficial fascia with secondary necrosis of overlying skin. Periorbital NF, albeit uncommon, has a reported mortality of 8-15% and rate of vision loss of 13.8%. Early surgical debridement has been advocated as a critical factor in the management of these patients however, emerging reports describe successful outcomes with intravenous antibiotic therapy alone. We describe a patient who was treated conservatively with good results.