Refractive surgery for refractive errors which cause strabismus. A report of 8 cases

Purpose: While excimer laser refractive surgery is a well known procedure for correcting refractive errors, its use in adult patients with accommodative or partially accommodative esotropia who wish to remove their glasses, and those with high anisometropia and exotropia has not been extensively studied. We report our experience treating these two conditions with refractive surgery. Methods: A retrospective review of the records of 8 adult patients with stable refractive error who underwent refractive surgery by the LASIK procedure. Three patients had accommodative esotropia, 3 had partially accommodative esotropia, and two patients had myopic anisometropia and exotropia. Results: The LASIK refractive treatment corrected the strabismic deviation related to the hyperopia in the accommodative and partially accommodative esotropic patients. It also corrected the exotropia in the myopic anisometropic patients with exotropia. Conclusions: Refractive surgery is effective in treating accommodative and partially accommodative esotropia in adults and in cases of myopic anisometropia with exotropia.