Congenital dystrophic medial rectus muscles

We report two patients, one with congenital dystrophic medial rectus muscles and one with absence of the medial rectus muscles; in addition, one of them had absence of the lateral rectus muscles. While absence of the superior oblique and superior rectus has been more commonly reported in literature, especially with craniofacial syndromes, our patients were nonsyndromic. Considering the risk of anterior segment ischemia, correction of the large-angle exotropia was performed by horizontal rectus muscle surgery where possible, along with transfer of the superior oblique tendon to the superior part of the normal medial rectus muscle insertion area to create a tethering effect with a good outcome.