When a base of skull fracture involves the orbit (the eye socket bones), then bleeding can occur from these, into the soft tissues around the eyeballs. This is seen as bruising around the eyes bilaterally (both sides involved). This can take a few days to develop, unlike ‘black eyes’ which tend to appear within hours. Other differences include ‘tarsal plate sparing’ (which tends to occur in raccoon eyes), an area of the upper eyelid without bruising. This is due to the fibrous tarsal plate (which helps prevent the eyelid inverting when blinking), which impedes the spread of bruising. Raccoon eyes bruising tends to be confined to the orbit, whereas a black eye may spread outside this area.