RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: In an environment where strabismus is poorly understood and management centers rare, we studied the epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic aspects of neglected childhood strabismus. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study carried out from March 1st, 2013 to September 30, 2018. Neglected childhood strabismus was defined as strabismus occurring in the first 5 years of life, for which the patient was over 7-years-old at the time of first consultation. The variables studied were age at first consultation, gender, age of onset, type of strabismus, etiology of strabismus, angle of deviation and rate of surgery. RESULTS: We found 113 cases of neglected childhood strabismus among the 430 cases of strabismus seen during the study period. There were more females (n=64) than males. The mean age was 17.7±10.5 years. There were 73 exotropias (64.6 %). The mean angle of deviation was 41.2±12.2PD. Strabismus was early in 70.8 % of cases. Innervational strabismus accounted for 86.7 % of cases. The most frequent refractive error was hyperopic astigmatism (55.3 %). Of the 45 patients who were seen again after full-time wear of their full cycloplegic correction, 2 were orthotropic. Surgery was performed in 60.5 % of cases. The average postoperative angle of deviation was 6.6±9.4PD. CONCLUSION: Management of neglected childhood strabismus provides good results and should therefore be encouraged in order to improve the quality of life of affected patients.
