Early reoperation after vertical rectus muscle surgery

Purpose: Adjustable suture strabismus surgery has a success rate between 90 % and 94%. In some patients, undesirable deviations are noted in the first week after surgery. In this article, we describe a method of reoperation in the first week of the initial repair in an outpatient clinical setting. Me thods: A retrospective review of clinical records from 1990 to 1998 identif ied 7 patients who underwent reoperation of the original surgical procedure in a clinic setting. All patients had vertical deviations that were overco rrected and had a reversal of their diplopia. Results: Follow-up ranged fro m 3 months to 59 months. All patients were free of diplopia and were either orthophoric or had small phoric deviations. Conclusions: Proper identifica tion of patients with strabismus as a result of overcorrected adjustable su tures and prompt reoperation in the first week after surgery are possible a nd prevent the need for repeat anesthesia in the operating suite.