Success of surgical correction in constant and intermittent exotropias.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the success rate of surgical corrections of constant and intermittent exotropias. STUDY DESIGN A case series. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Al-Ibrahim Eye Hospital, Karachi, from July 2011 to December 2012. METHODOLOGY Patients having primary exotropia (deviation 15 - 45 prism diopters [PD]) were included. Patients with either constant exotropia or basic intermittent exotropia underwent unilateral surgery of lateral rectus recession (maximum up to 10 mm) and medial rectus resection (up to 6 mm). Similarly, when patients had intermittent distance exotropia, underwent bilateral lateral rectus recession (maximum up to 10 mm). Final outcome was considered at the end of 2 months at which achievement of ² 10 PD of exotropia was considered as a success. RESULTS Out of 248 patients, 170 (68.5%) had either constant exotropia or basic intermittent exotropia, while 78 (31.5%) had intermittent distance exotropia. Mean angle of deviation before surgery was 49.23 prism diopters while after surgery, mean angle of deviation was 8.54 prism diopters. Overall success rate was 81.45% (n=202). In case of unilateral lateral rectus recession and medial rectus resection surgery, the success rate was 85.14% while success rate in case of bilateral lateral rectus recession was 65.21% (p=0.001). CONCLUSION Unilateral lateral rectus recession and medial rectus resection for surgical correction of exotropia had better surgical success rate as compared to bilateral lateral rectus recession.