Outcome of surgery for near angle in patient with incomitant distance/near esotropia and without manifest deviation at distance

Introduction: To investigate how a subset of patients with partially accommodative esotropia, with a manifest deviation <10 Prism Diopters (PD) at distance and an angle of strabismus at near wider than 10 PD, could respond to a surgical approach based on the misalignment at near. Methods: Six patients examined from 2015 to 2019 met criteria for inclusion: partially accommodative esotropia, patients compliant to full correction for at least 6 months, angle of esotropia for near larger at least 10 PD, angle of misalignment obtained with the alternate prism cover test and simultaneous prism cover test at distance <10 PD. All patients underwent bilateral medial recti recession. They were examined at 3 weeks and at 6 months. Results: No significant difference in the angle of esotropia at distance was found at any follow-up (Baseline: 7.17 ± 1.33 PD vs 3 weeks: 7.0 ± 1.01 PD vs 6 months: 7.33 ± 1.03 PD, p = 0.65, and p = 0.36, respectively). No case of consecutive exotropia was described. Considering the angle at near, there was a significant reduction at 3 weeks (Baseline: 41.7 ± 6.83 PD vs 3 weeks: 9.33 ± 1.63 PD, p = 0.027), that remained stable at the final follow-up (9.0 ± 1.1 PD, p = 0.32). All patients were suppressors and had nil stereopsis pre-operatively, all of them developed fusion and a different degree of stereopsis [276 ± 284 arcseconds (Range 80–800)]. Conclusions: A surgical approach based on the angle of strabismus for near could obtain satisfactory ocular alignment without consecutive exotropia in children with partially accommodative esotropia wearing full refractive correction, with a manifest deviation for distance <10 PD and a higher misalignment for near, at least for 6 months after surgery.