Background and purpose: To describe the development and treatment of patients with cyclic esotropia.
Patients and methods: The clinical course of seven patients with cyclic esotropia were retrospectively reviewed and described. All patients underwent bilateral medial rectus recession based on the deviation manifested on the day they were esotropic. Additionally, one patient had previously undergone surgery for intermittent exotropia.
Results: All patients developed excellent postoperative alignment. After strabismus surgery, normal eye alignment with some degree of binocularity was reached in five patients. Moreover, there was no recurrence of the cyclic deviation in any patient, and no patient experienced an overcorrection.
Conclusions: Strabismus surgery aimed to correct the horizontal esotropic angle present on the day the esotropia is manifested provides a good outcome that is stable long-term, with minimal risk of overcorrection. Possible explanations for the origin of cyclic esotropia are discussed.
Keywords: Cyclic esotropia; circadian rhythm; diplopia; esotropia; strabismus surgery.