Comparison of long‐term surgical outcomes of 2‐muscle surgery in intermittent exotropia: Bilateral vs Unilateral

Abstract

PurposeTo compare long‐term surgical outcomes after bilateral lateral rectus recession (BLR) and unilateral lateral rectus recession‐medial rectus resection (RR) for the treatment of intermittent exotropia.MethodsConsecutive patients who underwent BLR or RR for treatment of intermittent exotropia between 1999 and 2010 and had ≥ 5 years’ follow‐up were recruited. Surgical outcomes were grouped according to postoperative angle of deviation as overcorrection (esophoria/tropia>5△), success (esophoria/tropia ≤5△ to exophoria/tropia≤10△), or undercorrection/recurrence (exophoria/tropia>10△), and were compared between the BLR group and the RR group at postoperative 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years, and at the final examination.ResultsOf 99 patients, 37 underwent BLR and 62 underwent RR. The mean follow‐up period was 99.6 months in the BLR group and 96.2 months in the RR group. At 1 week, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years and at the final examination the surgical outcomes in each group were not different (p > 0.05). The surgical success rate was 44.6% in the BLR group and 45.0% in the RR group (p = 0.27). The re‐operation rate was 29.7% in the BLR group and 40.3% in the RR group (p = 0.67).ConclusionsSurgical outcomes by 5 years after surgery for intermittent exotropia were comparable between the BLR and RR groups. The surgical success rate and the re‐operation rate were not different between the BLR and RR groups.