Horizontal strabismus surgical outcomes in a teaching hospital

Strabismus may result in impaired stereopsis, diplopia, undesirable appearance, amblyopia and negative psychological impact. This study provides epidemiological and surgical outcome information about patients attending University College Hospital Galway requiring strabismus surgery. We report a retrospective analysis of 75 consecutive patients, who underwent horizontal strabismus surgery. Sixty-one (81.3%) patients had clinically significant refractive errors, hyperopia being the most common. Thirty-four (45.3%) patients had amblyopia and nine (12%) required further treatment. A cosmetically acceptable result with a post-operative ocular deviation within 25 prism dioptres of straight (grade 2) was achieved in 70/75 (93.3%) of patients. The overall mean change in ocular deviation per mm of muscle operated was 3.25 prism dioptre/mm. The outcomes of strabismus surgery in an Irish hospital compare very favourably with other jurisdictions. This data will help plan service delivery.