Adjustment of sutures 8 hours vs 24 hours after strabismus surgery.

PURPOSE To compare the postoperative results of adjustable-suture strabismus surgery when suture adjustment was performed 8 hours (group 1) and 24 hours (group 2) after surgery. METHODS A retrospective clinical study was conducted in two hospitals. Strabismus surgery and muscle adjustment were performed in 90 patients. All patients had horizontal strabismus (40 patients had esotropia and 50 patients had exotropia), and they underwent either primary surgery or reoperation. Mean age of the patients was 29.9 +/- 14.1 (range, 14 to 74) years. The angle of deviation was measured in all patients before surgery, after surgery both before and after adjustment, and at the final follow-up examination. The follow-up period was 6 to 40 months (mean, 19.6 months). RESULTS Preoperative data were similar in the two groups. The mean angle of deviation immediately after muscle adjustment was 0.6 +/- 6. 1 prism diopters in group 1 and 0.4 +/- 6.3 prism diopters in group 2. This similar deviation in the two groups (P =.9) changed during the follow-up period, and at the final examination the measured angles in groups 1 and 2 were -1.0 +/- 7.9 and -2.5 +/- 10.3 prism diopters, respectively (P =.48). The most considerable outcome measure was the calculated drift values. At the last follow-up these values were -1.6 +/- 5.8 for group 1 and -2.9 +/- 11 prism diopters for group 2 (P =.5). Subdividing the patients on the basis of their deviation before surgery, a postoperative drift toward exotropia was found in most patients of group 1. In group 2, however, a greater tendency toward exotropia was shown only by those patients who had displayed exotropia preoperatively, whereas patients with preoperative esotropia showed a greater tendency toward esotropia after surgery. CONCLUSION In patients undergoing horizontal extraocular muscle surgery with adjustable sutures, suture adjustment 8 hours or 24 hours after surgery did not produce significantly different results.