Incidence of inadvertent globe perforation during strabismus surgery

Visual loss following strabismus is rare and usually follows inadvertent perforation of the globe at the time of surgery. Previous studies have reported that the incidence of this complication occurs in 8% to 12.1% of patients undergoing conventional strabismus surgery, and higher incidences have been reported for posterior fixation sutures. We conducted a prospective study to determine the incidence of this complication in our patients. We identified one case of globe perforation in 67 patients (100 eyes). Twenty-two patients (44 eyes) had undergone previous strabismus surgery, and there was no evidence of previous scleral perforation in this group. We discuss the recent advances in strabismus surgery which may account for this difference in the incidence of scleral perforation.