Comitant strabismus.

A review of the literature on comitant strabismus of the period from April 1999 until April 2000 is presented. A rather new and increasingly important issue is the psychosocial aspect of strabismus. Two studies have demonstrated that strabismus creates a significant negative social prejudice on the patients and that it can significantly reduce an applicant's ability to obtain employment. Subsequently, strabismus surgery can no longer be called "cosmetic". Concerning the timing of surgery in congenital esotropia, it was reported that early surgery does not ensure continued alignment, but frequently requires additional operations. The increased risk of early-onset strabismus in prematurely born children was confirmed by several studies, and the importance of regular ophthalmologic controls of all preterm infants screened for retinopathy of prematurity was stressed. It was reported that risk factors are cicatricial retinopathy of prematurity, refractive error, family history of strabismus, and poor neurodevelopmental outcome, rather than low gestational age and regressed acute retinopathy of prematurity. A number of other aspects of interest concerning exotropia, esotropia, and dissociated vertical deviation are presented in this review.