The Surgical Outcome of Bilateral Lateral Rectus Recession in Large Angle Exotropia

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the results of bilateral recession in large angle exotropia we examined medical records of 73 patients who had exotropia larger than 35PD and underwent bilateral lateral rectus recession. The mean of follow-up period was 16months. Successful alignment, defined as a final alignment of orthophoria, esotropia less than 5PD or exotropia less than 10PD was achieved in 44 patients(60.3%). There were no differences in age, refractive error, preoperative angle of deviation, prevalence of amblyopia, the presence and concurrent correction of vertical or cyclodeviation, the development of diplopia and the duration of follow-up period between the successful alignment group and failure group. The esodeviation on postoperative one-day tended to ensure a more satisfactory result, but it was not statistically significant. There were no statistically significant differences in stereoacuity and postoperative angle of deviation among the different fusional ability groups. The stereoacuity and postoperative angle of deviation did not show a positive correlation. However, on the two separate examinations of the stereoacuity and fusional ability, the latter results showed improvement in both parameters. This result suggests that the correction of exodeviation may play a role in improving binocular visual function in patients with large angle exotropia.