RESUMO
PURPOSE: We report the outcomes of two- or three-muscle surgery on patients with large-angle exotropia exceeding 45 prism diopters (PDs). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data on 45 exotropia patients (> 45 PDs) who underwent two- or three-muscle surgery. We excluded patients with paralytic or restrictive strabismus, A- or V-pattern strabismus, a coexistent oblique dysfunction or nystagmus, and/or a history of prior extraocular muscle surgery. Only patients for whom at least 6 months of follow-up data were available were included. Successful surgery was defined as postoperative esotropia ≤ 5 PD, orthophoria, and exotropia ≤ 10 PD at the last visit. RESULTS: We included 45 patients, of whom 22 and 23 underwent two- and three-muscle surgery, respectively. The mean postoperative deviations were 9.5 and 2.7 PD in the two- and three-muscle groups, respectively; the overall success rates were 54.55% (12/22) and 91.30% (21/23). Subgroup analyses revealed that the surgical success rate of two-muscle operations was 66.67% (12/18) in 45–55 PD patients and 0% (0/4) in ≥ 55 PD patients; the success rates of three-muscle operations were 100% (7/7) and 87.50% (14/16). The success rate did not differ significantly between those with postoperative deviations of 45–55 PD (p = 0.137), but did between those who underwent two- and three-muscle operations to treat postoperative deviations of ≥ 55 PD (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Satisfactory results can be achieved via two-muscle surgery in patients with exotropia 55 PD, three-muscle surgery is superior to two-muscle surgery. Therefore, large-angle exotropia is optimally treated via three-muscle surgery.