Early Surgery for Infantile Esotropia

ABSTRACT

It is known that early surgery between 6 and 24 months of age obtains better binocularity in infantile esotropia. We selected 59 patients who had infantile esotropia with onset before 6 months of age and underwent surgery at 10 years of age or less. Stereopsis was tested in 51 patients after surgery. Thirty four patients(66.7%) showed gross stereopsis. The patients who underwent surgery at 2 years of age or less, developed gross stereopsis in 80.8%. The patients who had their eyes aligned their eyes between 2 and 4 years of age, gross stereopsis was demonstrated in 64.3%, white the patients underwent surgery more than 4 years of age developed gross stereopsis in 36.3%. The younger the patients at the time of surgery, the greater the percentage of gross stereopsis was shown(p0.05). This study revealed that early surgery, before 2 years of age, yields better outcome for sensory fusion and good alignment.