The Clinical Course of Recurrent Exotropia after Reoperation for Exodeviation

PURPOSE: To determine the clinical course of recurrent exotropia after a secondary operation for exotropia. METHODS: The surgical results in 58 patients who had undergone reoperation for recurrent exotropia (reoperation group) were retrospectively investigated and compared with those of 100 patients who had undergone primary strabismus surgery only (primary operation group) using survival analysis. RESULTS: In the reoperation group, recurrence occurred in 19 of the 58 patients (33%). Survival analysis revealed that the recurrence rates in the reoperation group were significantly lower than those in the primary operation group at the same follow-up period after the corresponding strabismus surgery (p=0.018). The distant esodeviation at the postoperative 1st week after reoperation was the only significant factor associated with the recurrence after reoperation (p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Exotropia did recur after a secondary operation, although the recurrence rate was lower than that after a primary operation only.