Fusion loss as a result of long-standing unilateral traumatic cataract or uncorrected aphakia

Eight patients with secondary strabismus as a result of longstanding unilateral traumatic cataract or uncorrected aphakia were seen in the Orthoptic Department between April 1993 and September 1994. At the initial orthoptic examination three patients did not have any binocular vision and five patients demonstrated some form of binocularity although the fusional amplitude was seriously reduced. Three of these five patients showed just a small heterophoria and a better fusional amplitude within six months after a good optical correction and/or prescription of prisms with or without strabismus surgery. Orthoptic examination and therapy is mandatory in these patients because binocular functions can be restored in some of them, in spite of the long interval between trauma and optical correction.