Postoperative Stabilization of the Strabismic Angle in Intermittent Exotropia

PURPOSE: To analyze the postoperative strabismic angle for five years or more and to investigate when the angle stabilized in intermittent exotropia. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 89 patients who had undergone surgery for intermittent exotropia. The postoperative strabismic angles measured were analyzed at one-year intervals up to five years postoperatively. We divided them into two groups according to their age at the time of surgery. Group 1 was less than 5 years of age, while Group 2 participants were 5 years of age or older. RESULTS: For our 89 total patients, average exo-angles were 7.8 ± 7.26, 7.9 ± 7.51, 9.5 ± 7.05, 10.1 ± 6.87, and 9.4 ± 6.90 prism diopters at one, two, three, four, and five years postoperatively, respectively. Average exo-angles between postoperative year one and year three, as well as between postoperative year two and year three, were statistically significant (p = 0.015, 0.022). However, the angles were not statistically significant between postoperative year three and year four or between years three and five, respectively (p = 0.707, p = 0.948). The stabilization characteristics of the angle were somewhat different according to age group. In Group 1, the average exo-angle in postoperative years one and three were statistically significant (p = 0.016), but the angle in the same period was not statistically significant in Group 2 (p = 0.203). CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant interval change after three years postoperatively in intermittent exotropia, but if the patient's age at surgery was 5 years or higher, no significant change of exo-angle was found following postoperative year one in this study.