The Patricia Lance Lecture, Sydney 1992 : Untreated Early Onset Esotropia in the Visual Adult.

Carolyn Calcutt, DBO(D)

One hundred and forty two patients with a history of esotropia present before the age of six months who had had no previous ophthalmic examination, and who were aged eight years of more were examined in order to ascertain the presence or absence of DVD, manifest latent nystagmus and asymmetric OKN, the main features of essential infantile esotropia (ET).
Twenty nine patients showed no evidence of essential infantile esotropia, despite the history of onset of strabismus under the age of six months.
One hundred and thirteen cases were diagnosed as having essential infantile esotropia. There were 90 patients with manifest latent nystagmus, 67 with DVD and 97 with an asymmetric OKN response. Only eight cases had visual acuity in the non-fixing eye of less than 6/12. ‘A’ pattern esotropia was present in 72 cases and ‘V’ pattern elicited in 16 patients. There were no abnormal head postures.
It is suggested that the untreated condition of essential infantile esotropia should be studied before making definitive conclusions about the conclusions about the characteristics of the condition