Surgical outcomes of bilateral lateral rectus recession versus unilateral recession and resection for the divergence excess type of intermittent exotropia.

PURPOSE: To compare bilateral lateral rectus recession (BLR) with unilateral recession and resection (RR) for divergence excess intermittent exotropia (IXT).

METHODS

Retrospective analysis of 66 patients with divergence excess IXT who underwent either BLR or RR from January 2013 to December 2020 was conducted. Data on demographics, pre- and postoperative deviations, fusion, stereopsis, control, and accommodative convergence/accommodation ratio were collected. Success was defined as esodeviation ≤5 PD (prism diopter) to exodeviation ≤10 PD with a follow-up time of at least 8.0 ± 2.0 weeks.

RESULTS

BLR (42 cases) and RR (24 cases) groups had the same success rate (83.3%, P = 0.688) and similar reduced postoperative deviations both in distance and at near (P > 0.05). Near-distance disparity decreased significantly in both groups (P = 0.000) with no intergroup difference (P = 0.193).

CONCLUSION

BLR and RR were equally effective for divergence excess IXT with comparable outcomes of both distance and near deviations.