Outcomes of hang-back recession for restrictive strabismus associated with thyroid eye disease.
Hang-back recession achieved surgical success in all patients with thyroid eye disease strabismus.
Outcomes of hang-back recession for restrictive strabismus associated with thyroid eye disease.
To evaluate the outcomes of hang-back recession applied to mechanically restricted rectus muscles in patients with thyroid eye disease (thyroid eye disease)-related strabismus, focusing on alignment stability and surgical success.
This retrospective observational study included patients with thyroid eye disease who underwent hang-back recession of mechanically restricted rectus muscles for diplopia and/or restrictive ocular motility.
Mean age was 48.8 ± 10.2 years, and all patients presented with diplopia.
Horizontal deviation (10 eyes) showed a significant reduction at all postoperative time points at both near and distance fixation (p = 0.005), while vertical deviation (8 eyes) also demonstrated significant improvement throughout follow-up (p ≤ 0.012).
Improvement was evident from the first postoperative week, with stable alignment achieved by the third postoperative month.
No overcorrection occurred after horizontal surgery, and a mild vertical overcorrection (4 prism diopters) was observed in one patient.
Hang-back recession may provide effective and stable correction of thyroid eye disease-related strabismus.
This tension-free approach was associated with favorable postoperative alignment and a low incidence of clinically significant overcorrection in the present series.
These findings should be interpreted considering the relatively small cohort and the absence of a control group.