ABSTRACT Introduction: Although there are guidance tables in the literature on surgical dosage for primary medial rectus resection-lateral rectus recession surgery, there is a lack of consensus on the surgical gains in medial rectus re-advancement (MRR) for the management of consecutive exotropia. We compared the surgical outcomes of primary medial rectus resection-lateral recession (RR) surgery, to MRR in patients with consecutive exotropia. Methods: Retrospective, electronic note review of consecutive patients undergoing primary RR surgery for basic exotropia (RR group), convergence insufficiency-type exotropia, and divergence excess, and consecutive patients undergoing MRR with or without lateral rectus recession (MRR group) for consecutive exotropia in a teaching university hospital. Results: There were 84 patients in the RR group and 27 patients in the MRR group. The median age in the RR group was 25.50 years (range 4–79) and 45 years (18–87) in the MRR group (p = .002). Median follow-up was 7 months (3–43) in the RR group and 1 month (1–12) in the MRR group. Post-operatively, there was a median exotropia reduction of 27.00 prism diopters (PD) (range +5, –65; p < .0001) for near, and 27.00 PD (+10, –51; p < .0001) for distance in the RR group. In the MRR group, the median exotropia reduction was 34.50 PD (2, –67; p < .0001) for near and 33.00 PD (1, –67; p < .0001) for distance. There was a greater reduction in the exotropia in the MRR group compared to the RR group for distance (p = .047), but this did not meet statistical significance for near (p = 0.10). The median dose–effect relationship (PD/millimeter) was higher in the MRR group both for near deviation (2.90 vs 2.15, p = .0073) and for distance deviation (2.91 vs 2.15, =0.0041). Conclusion: Based on our study cohort, medial rectus re-advancement appears to have a greater dose-effect in reducing the distance angle of deviation for both near and distance compared to primary recess-resect surgery. Further prospective longitudinal studies would shed further light on the dose–effect relationship over time.