Non-absorbable versus Absorbable Sutures for Medial Rectus Advancement in Consecutive Exotropia, a Pilot Randomized...

To compare non-absorbable and absorbable sutures for medial rectus advancement in consecutive exotropia.

In a pilot randomized clinical trial, 40 subjects with consecutive exotropia >15 PD that underwent unilateral medial rectus advancement with or without resection were randomly assigned to two groups: using non-absorbable (polyester) suture in the non-absorbable group and absorbable (vicryl) suture in the absorbable group. The success rate was defined as the final postoperative angle of deviation <10 PD.

Thirty-three patients (18 in the non-absorbable and 15 in the absorbable group) had completed the study. At last follow-up, the distance deviation improved from 29.2 ± 15.5 to 7.6 ± 7.9 in the non-absorbable group and from 25.9 ± 8.4 to 8.1 ± 10.7 in the absorbable group. The near deviation improved from 31.4 ± 15.9 to 7.2 ± 8.0 in the non-absorbable and from 29.0 ± 7.6 to 6.8 ± 11.9 in the absorbable group. The amount of the final correction of the distance and near deviation was not statistically different between the groups (P = .80 and P = .99, respectively). At the final examination, the exoshifts for distance and near were not statistically different between 2 groups (p = .61 and 0.54, respectively). At the final examination, the success was obtained in 12 patients (66.7%) and 8 patients (53.3%) in the non-absorbable and absorbable group, respectively (p = .73).

In our study, there was no statistical difference in success rate or exoshift between non-absorbable and absorbable sutures. So, considering local inflammation induced by non-absorbable sutures in some cases, the absorbable sutures can be an appropriate option for the treatment of consecutive exotropia.