Clinical features and the risk factors of infantile exotropia recurrence

To evaluate the clinical features and the risk factors of recurrence in infantile exotropia.

Retrospective, observational case series.

The clinical records of 20 infantile exotropia patients who underwent exotropia surgery were reviewed retrospectively. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the amount of exodeviation present at 1 year after surgery. Preoperative patient characteristics and postoperative alignments were evaluated at 1 day and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery.

The successful group was composed of 12 patients with an alignment of less than 10 prism diopters (PD) of exodeviation, and the recurrent group was composed of 8 patients with an alignment of 10 PD or more of exodeviation (range, 10 to 18 PD) at 1 year after surgery. The incidences of dissociated vertical deviation, inferior oblique overaction, and rates of constancy before operation were not significantly different in the 2 groups (P = .603, P = .158, and P = .347, respectively), and postoperative deviations were not significantly different at 1 day after surgery. However, postoperative deviations were significantly different in the 2 groups at 1 month (P = .069) and 3 months (P < .001) after surgery, and this difference was maintained at 12 months after surgery. Furthermore, correlation between initial alignments at 1 month after surgery and final alignments was significant in successful group (P = .012).

No single factor affecting the surgical outcome was identified in infantile exotropia, but the recurrence of infantile exotropia was apparent from the first postoperative month.