Inferior Oblique Muscle Recession

Abstract

Surgical recession of the inferior oblique muscle is simpler to perform if the inferior rectus muscle, rather than either the lateral rectus muscle or the inferior oblique muscle insertion, is used as a landmark. We measured 200 consecutive autopsy eyes to determine the distance from the commonly used 8-mm recession site determined by the Fink technique to the lateral border of the inferior rectus muscle insertion. It was easier to reach this point by measuring 4.0 mm posterior and 4.4 mm superior to the lateral insertion of the inferior rectus muscle, or 2.9 mm superior (on a line parallel to the corneoscleral limbus) and 5.1 mm posterior (on the line perpendicular to the corneoscleral limbus) to the lateral insertion of the inferior rectus muscle. We made anatomical studies to grade the amount of inferior oblique muscle recession and to evaluate the proper placement of the posterior border of the recessed inferior oblique muscle.