Comparison of preoperative and postoperative anterior segment measurements with Pentacam® in strabismus surgery

This study was intended to evaluate the effect of horizontal muscle surgery on anterior segment measurements in patients with strabismus.

Forty-two eyes of 28 patients with exotropia undergoing recession or recession combined with resection procedure were included. Consecutive cases were imaged using a Pentacam (Oculus, Inc., Berlin, Germany) immediately prior to surgery and 1 and 3 months after surgery. The refractive power of the anterior surface of the cornea on the horizontal and vertical axis, the thinnest corneal thickness, anterior chamber depth, anterior chamber volume, and cornea volume were analyzed. The clinical characteristics of patients, visual acuity, astigmatism, and size of the deviations before and after surgery were reviewed.

Muscle recession and recession plus resection surgery were performed in 28 and 14 eyes, respectively. Overall, no significant changes were noted when comparing preoperative and postoperative data. Patients were divided into two groups, recession or recession plus resection, and only anterior chamber depth was found to be significantly reduced in the recession group 1 month postoperatively. Three months postoperatively, the reduced anterior chamber depth in the recession group returned to the preoperative value.

In this series, the recession procedure in patients with strabismus induced an anterior chamber depth change during the early postoperative period. However, the anterior chamber depth returned to its preoperative state by 3 months after surgery. These findings indicate that extraocular muscle surgery could induce reversible changes to the anterior segment of the eye.