The effect of previous orbital decompression on results of strabismus surgery in patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of previous orbital decompression on the success of strabismus surgery in patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy.

METHODS

The medical records of patients who underwent strabismus surgery for Graves' ophthalmopathy were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups according to whether they had previously undergone orbital decompression. Success was defined as no diplopia in primary and downgaze or no diplopia with prisms no more than 8(Δ) horizontally and 4(Δ) vertically. The effect of strabismus surgery on the amount of proptosis was also evaluated.

RESULTS

A total of 56 patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy were included. Of these, 27 had undergone orbital decompression before strabismus surgery and 29 patients had not. The two groups did not differ in terms of the average angle of preoperative horizontal or vertical deviations and the average numbers of muscle that underwent surgery. The postoperative exophthalmometric value decreased an average of 0.4 mm in the decompression group and 0.2 mm in the nondecompression group. The success rate of the surgery was 92.6% in patients who had previous decompression and 93.1% in patients who had not.

CONCLUSIONS

Previous orbital decompression surgery had no significant effect on the outcomes of strabismus surgery or on postoperative change in proptosis in patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy.