Objectives:

To compare the motor results of the early and late surgery for infantile esotropia.

Ma­te­ri­als and Met­hods:

The cases diagnosed with infantile esotropia and which underwent strabismus surgery between 2008 and 2013 were investigated retrospectively. The cases were divided into early surgery and late surgery groups. Ten cases operated in their 18 months of age or earlier were included in the early surgery group, and 12 cases operated when being older than 18 months of age were included in the late surgery group. The groups were compared with respect to squint angel before operation, squint angle after operation, surgical success rate, and requirement of additional operation.

Re­sults:

At the operation time, the mean age was 12.8±4.0 (5-18) months and 46.2±31.4 (20-108) months in the early and late surgery groups, respectively (p=0.003). The mean squint angel before operation was 45.5±12.7 (30-65) prism diopters (pd) and 44.58±12.1 (30-60) pd in the early and late surgery groups, respectively (p=0.865). Mean follow-up period was 39.8±13.3 (16-59) months in the early surgery group, and 38.4±2.9 (6-69) months in the late surgery group (p=0.873). Surgical success rate was 70% in the early surgery group, and was 66% in the late surgery group (p=0.870). The mean squint angle values in postoperative last visit were 4.5±10.1 (0-30) pd and 7.9±11.9 (0-30) pd in the early and late surgery groups, respectively (p=0.483). Additional horizontal muscle surgery was done in three cases in the early surgery group and in one patient in the late surgery group (p=0.418).

Conclusion:

No statistically significant difference was found between the motor outcomes of early and late surgery for infantile esotropia.

Keywords: Infantile esotropia, early surgery, late surgery, reoperation, strabismus