Evaluation of the Role of Displacement Surgery in the Management of Congenital Nystagmus

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of displacement surgery in damping of ocular oscillation and management of compensatory head posture in patients of congenital nystagmus. METHODS This study was carried out in 2014. The participants were 50 patients with congenital nystagmus that dampens in a certain direction of gaze with or without abnormal head posture and with or without strabismus. Patients underwent the augmented modified Kestenbaum (augmented parks) procedure. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 15, using Chi-square text, exact test, and Mann Whitney U test. RESULTS In this study, 12 patients (80%) were noticed clinically to have damping of nystagmus while 3 patients (20%) had no damping of nystagmus. Twelve patients (80.0%) had no post-operative abnormal head position, while 3 patients (20.0%) had residual abnormal head position. There was a statistically significant difference between the pre-operative BCVA in primary position and post-operative BCVA in primary position (p = 0.001 for both right and left eyes). CONCLUSION The displacement surgeries (e.g. Kestenbaum procedure) for the treatment of patients with congenital nystagmus is an effective procedure for correction of abnormal head posture, improving the visual acuity in the primary position and damping of nystagmus in patients with congenital nystagmus who have null points away from the primary position.