The Globe's Eccentric Rotational Axis: Why Medial Rectus Surgery Is More Potent than Lateral Rectus Surgery

Tables typically recommend greater lateral rectus (LR) than medial rectus (MR) surgical doses for horizontal strabismus of any given magnitude, a difference unexplained by mechanical models that assume globe rotation about its center. We tested this assumption during horizontal ductions.

Prospective observational study.

Eighteen adult subjects with normal binocular vision.

Surface coil magnetic resonance imaging at 390 or 430 μm resolution was obtained using 2-mm-thick contiguous axial planes while subjects fixated targets in central, right, and left gaze. Angular displacements of lines connecting the corneal apex through the minor lens axis to the retina were measured to approximate clinical ductions. Globe centers were calculated from their area centroids. Apparent lens and globe-optic nerve (ON) junction rotations around the globe center were then compared with clinical ductions.

Apparent angular rotations of lenses and globe-ON junctions during horizontal ductions.

Globe-ON junctions appeared to rotate significantly less around globe centers than did lenses for abduction (20.6°±4.7° vs. 27.4°±7.4°, ± standard deviation (SD), P < 0.001) and adduction (25.3°±6.7° vs. 31.9°±8.3°, P < 0.001). Both rotations differed significantly from clinical adduction (27.9°±8.3°, P < 0.007), but only in abduction was globe-ON junction rotation significantly less than clinical abduction (28.6°±9.4°, P < 0.001). The true geometric globe rotational center was 2.2±0.5 mm medial and 0.8±1.0 mm posterior to the geometric globe center and was displaced farther medially and posteriorly during adduction. This eccentricity imbues each millimeter of MR recession with approximately 30% more trigonometric rotational effect than equivalent LR recession.

The medial and posterior eccentricities of the normal ocular rotational axis profoundly influence horizontal rectus action. The proximity of the globe's rotational axis to the MR shortens its lever arm relative to the LR, explaining why mechanical effects of smaller MR recessions are equivalent to larger LR recessions.