Surgical results for consecutive exotropia

PURPOSE: To evaluate the surgical results of medial rectus (MR) muscle advancement with or without recession of the antagonist muscle for consecutive exotropia. METHODS: Medical records of patients with consecutive exotropia (n = 27) were retrospectively reviewed. All patients received one-eye surgery with MR advancement, lateral rectus (LR) recession, or combined surgery. The pre- and post-operative angle of deviation was recorded. Characteristics were compared between groups. The follow-up period was at least 3 months. RESULTS: The overall successful rate was 62.96%, with 50% in MR advancement group, 60% in LR recession group, and 71.4% in combined group. Patients in combined group had larger preoperative deviation. There were comparable surgical results between patients with inferior oblique (IO) muscle overaction receiving correction simultaneously and patients without IO muscle overaction. CONCLUSIONS: The overall surgical successful rate for consecutive exotropia in this study was 62.96%. Combined MR advancement and LR recession yielded better results than MR advancement or LR recession alone although it was not statistically significant.