Postoperative miotics for patients with infantile esotropia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES To examine the postoperative effect of echothiophate iodide in children who underwent surgery to congenital esotropia, and to find out whether it significantly reduced the residual esotropia. PATIENTS AND METHODS Forty-one children who underwent surgery to correct congenital esotropia were randomly divided into a study group and a control group. The children in the treatment group received echothiophate iodide eyedrops once daily for 4 months, and all the children received dexamethasone eyedrops for 1 week after surgery. The strabismus angle was measured at 6 days, 6 months, and 12 months postoperatively for every patient. The measurements were compared in both groups using the paired Student's t test. RESULTS The surgical procedure reduced the mean angle of esotropia by 32.4 prism diopters (PD) in the treatment group, and 38.8 PD in the control group. Six months after surgery, a mean decrease in the esotropia of 1.0 PD was observed in the treatment group, and a mean increase of 0.2 PD was observed in the control group. Twelve months postoperatively, the esotropia increased, by an average of 1.4 and 2.8 PD in the treatment and control groups, respectively. These differences were not statistically different (P > .05). CONCLUSION Echothiophate iodide, given postoperatively for congenital esotropia, does not improve the surgical results during the first postoperative year.