The period of overcorrection after surgery according to age in pediatric patients with intermittent exotropia

Purpose: To investigate the recovery period of overcorrection and related factors after surgery in pediatric patients with basic intermittent exotropia (XT). Methods: Retrospective chart reviews of the medical records of patients who underwent bilateral lateral rectus recession for basic XT were analyzed. Preoperative age, sex, angle of deviation (prism diopters [PD]), and suppression at distance were measured. Patients were observed every week when the angle of deviation was > 2 PD of overcorrection at postoperative day 1. Recovery of overcorrection was defined as improvement of overcorrection with orthotropia. Patients were divided into two groups according to age: younger (group 1) and older (group 2) than 10 years of age. Success was defined as an angle of deviation between 10 PD of exodeviation and 5 PD of esodeviation at the final visit. Results: A total of 88 patients were included. At postoperative day 1, the angle of deviation at distance was -6.9 ± 2.2 PD, and the near angle of deviation was -6.9 ± 2.4 PD. Esodeviation presented as a minus value. The recovery period of overcorrection was 1.9 ± 3.9 weeks and the success rate was 80.7% (71 patients). The success rates of group 1 and group 2 were not statistically significant (p = 0.51). The recovery period of overcorrection in group 2 (2.7 ± 5.9 weeks) was significantly longer than in group 1 (1.8 ± 3.4 weeks) (p = 0.02). Conclusions: In pediatric adolescents with basic XT, the surgical success rates did not differ significantly according to age, but recovery of overcorrection after strabismus surgery took longer in patients ≥ 10 years of age.