Transorbital comes from trans, across, and orb, a sphere or globe. Leukotomy is the surgical interruption of nerve tracts to and from the frontal lobe of the brain.

A transorbital leukotomy is a psychiatric operation in which an ice pick is forced through the back of the eye sockets, piercing the thin bone that separates the eye sockets from the frontal lobes. The tip of the ice pick is then inserted into the frontal lobes and the nerve fibers connecting these to the rest fo the brin are severed, resuling in the patient becoming an emotional vegetable.