Evaluation of Choroidal Thickness Before and After Strabismus Surgery in Paediatric Patients by Spectral-domain Optical Coherence Tomography

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to determine the effects of strabismus surgery on choroidal thickness in paediatric patients with Spectral Domain-Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT). Material and Methods: Sixty eyes of 60 children with esotropia were included. The mean age was 9.5 +/- 3.1 years. The choroidal thickness was measured using SD-OCT, which was performed before the surgery and 1 week, 1 month and 3 months postoperatively. At the same time, the patients' visual acuity was evaluated. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the preoperative and postoperative values in terms of the visual acuity (P > 0.05). When compared to the preoperative values, decreases were found in the choroidal thicknesses in all of the areas measured during the first week evaluation (P < 0.05). In the postoperative first month, significant decreases were also found in the choroidal thicknesses in all the areas measured (P < 0.05); however, in the postoperative third month, there were no changes in any of the areas (P > 0.05). Conclusions: We observed that there was a significant decrease in the choroidal thickness during the early postoperative period and no significant change in the late postoperative period in paediatric patients of double horizontal muscle surgery. Moreover, these early changes in the choroid in paediatric patients show that it does not cause a functional loss.