Strabismus surgery and its effect upon infant development in congenital esotropia

Parents of children with congenital esotropia have reported improvements in their child's fine motor development and visual functions after surgery. Eighteen patients with congenital esotropia were tested pre- and post-operatively with The Bayley Scales of Infant Development to determine if these observations were valid. A three-point increase in the Bayley raw score of strabismus patients was noted after operation that is significant at the 0.01 level, as compared to the performance of age-matched controls. An improvement in fine motor skills was observed in 35% of the children, and visually directed reaching and grasping increased in 41%. Item #87 on the Bayley, which requires the child to recognize depressions without monocular clues, appears to be related specifically to depth perception. On this item, the study population showed the greatest improvement.