Necrotizing scleritis following strabismus surgery for thyroid ophthalmopathy

Necrotizing scleritis with inflammation of the right eye developed after bilateral eye muscle surgery for thyroid ophthalmopathy. Debilitating pain, delay in onset, and involvement of the sclera distinguish this condition from anterior segment ischemia. The surgery may have acted as a nonspecific trigger in an eye at risk for scleritis. Necrotizing scleritis has occurred infrequently after other types of eye surgery but, to our knowledge, has not been previously reported as a complication of eye muscle surgery.