Subconjunctival cysts as a complication of strabismus surgery

Six patients were operated on for large subconjunctival cysts that developed up to 35 years after strabismus surgery. In four of these patients the cyst was found to arise between the anterior edge of the muscle and the site to which the muscle had been sutured during previous surgery. The muscle was attached to the posterior wall of the cyst and not to the sclera. A pseudotendon was found running between the point on the sclera to which the muscle had been sutured and the undersurface of the muscle far posteriorly. In the other two patients a sudoriferous cyst was found that the referring ophthalmologist had mistakenly thought to represent an abscess when excision was attempted.