Incidence of strabismus in neonates

In an attempt to learn whether esotropia is present at birth or develops later in infancy, we observed 1,219 alert infants in a normal newborn nursery at a city hospital. Of these, 593 (48.6%) had orthotropic findings; 398 (32.7%) had exotropia, 40 (3.2%) had esotropia (intermittent in 17 with 14 varying between esotropia and exotropia and nine with a variable esotropia), and 188 (15.4%) were not sufficiently alert to permit classification. No infant displayed typical signs of congenital esotropia. We concluded that congenital-infantile esotropia is not connatal but rather develops in the first few weeks or months after birth.