Secondary & Consecutive Esotropia

What are secondary and consecutive esotropias and how can they be treated surgically or with botulinum toxin?

Video Transcript:

This is a type of convergent squint that occurs due to poor vision in one eye. There are many different causes of poor vision including problems with the retina or optic nerve, some of these can be present from birth, others will develop in later life. In any patient with a squint it is very important to examine both eyes thoroughly to make sure there is no sign of an abnormality that could have caused the squint.

If there is no treatment that is likely to improve the sight in the eye, squint surgery or botox injections to the inner muscle of the eye, can be carried out to improve reduce the size of the convergent squint. Unfortunately patients with poor vision are much more likely to suffer a recurrence of their squint following surgery or their eye may drift outwards. This is why many ophthalmologists prefer to treat this type of squint with repeat botox injections.

Consecutive Esotropias

This refers to a convergent squint that has developed following surgery for an exotropia. This is a relatively rare occurrence, but can happen following surgery for an intermittent distance exotropia (see IDEX section).