January 10, 2011 
Anyone shuddering at the thought of having their skull’s top removed for brain surgery may want to consider the scar-free alternative of going through the eye socket. Of course, that may not get rid of the ick factor…
Neurosurgeons have already used transnasal surgery that goes through the nose, but the eye route promises to be easier. A small incision behind or through the eyelid gives access to the paper-thin bone of the eye socket, so that repairs can begin without a need to lift the brain.
“The advantages to this transorbital approach are many, including reduced pain and decreased recovery time for the patient,” said Kris Moe, chief of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center.
This method has allowed surgeons to take care of cerebral spinal fluid leaks, optic nerve decompression, repair of cranial base fractures and removal of tumors. Only the UC San Diego Medical Center and the University of Washington Medical Center currently offer the procedure.
A group of 16 patients underwent 20 procedures without major hitches, as detailed by a study on the method in the September issue of the journal Neurology.
Anyone unconvinced by letting surgeons poke through their eye socket might consider that the other options for brain surgery are hardly nicer. And unlike the older days of medicine when people performed lobotomies through the eye socket, this procedure is meant to repair rather than destroy.
Taken from: www.livescience.com