Effects of intraoperative topical mitomycin-C on strabismus surgery in the rabbit: a preliminary study

The effect of intraoperative topical exposure of mitomycin-C (MMC) on muscle reattachment and scarring in strabismus surgery was prospectively investigated in the rabbit by performing bilateral recession surgery in which one eye was treated with topical MMC (0.2 mg/mL) and the other eye served as the control. One week postoperatively, in random, masked fashion, the severity of postoperative adhesions was rated lower in the MMC-treated eyes. Also, histology demonstrated decreased fibrosis in the muscle reattachment sites in the MMC-treated eyes. The muscle tension in the reattached muscles was greater than 100 g in all of the eyes. This preliminary study indicates that topical MMC exposure may inhibit scarring in strabismus surgery without inhibiting muscle reattachment or causing other obvious adverse effects.