Medial Rectus Advancement Compared to Lateral Rectus Recession for Small To Moderate Angle Consecutive Exotropia

Abstract

Background: Consecutive exotropia is an exodeviation type that appears after surgically correcting esodeviation and is distinguished by postoperative exotropia lasting longer than a month. Aims: to assess the bilateral medial rectus advancement (MRA) compared to bilateral lateral rectus recession (LRR) among patients with consecutive exotropia.Methods At Menoufia University Hospital, a prospective clinical trial included 24 patients was conducted in the period from May 2022 to June 2023. The patients were divided into 2 groups, each group contained 12 patients who underwent bilateral medial rectus advancement and bilateral lateral rectus recession. Demographic data, as well as preoperative and postoperative ocular alignment were determined for each patient. All patients were followed up by one weeks, 2, 4, 8, and 12 months postoperative.Results: Half of group MRA group's patients (50%) were males vs five (41.66%) of the LRR group's patients, with no obvious differences between the two groups (P=0.682). There were no appreciable changes between the MRA and LRR groups (P>0.05) in preoperative and postoperative ocular alignment.Conclusions: The two surgery groups in this study did not significantly differ from one another. Both of these surgical techniques can be used to effectively treat consecutive exotropia, but LR recession is a reasonably straightforward to perform. Recession of the LR should be performed on patients with chronic exotropia and no vertical abnormalities.