An office-based scale for assessing control in intermittent exotropia

Introduction. Although intermittent exotropia may deteriorate with time, there are no widely accepted criteria for measuring progression in this disorder. The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate a new scale for assessing the level of control in children with intermittent exotropia. Methods. Thirty consecutive pediatric patients (<14 years) with intermittent exotropia were prospectively evaluated from July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005 using a new scale to assess the level of control for both distance and near fixation. The distance score (0 to 5) was combined with the near score (0 to 5) to yield an overall control score from 0 to 10. Results. The 30 patients were examined at a median age of 72 months (range, 15 months to 13 years). The level of control at distance was worse than or equal to the near level of control in all 30 patients. The control scores ranged from 0 to 5 for distance and 0 to 4 for near, with an overall control score ranging from 0 to 8 (median of 3). Conclusions. This new scale for assessing control in children with intermittent exotropia can be easily applied in the office setting and characterizes the wide range of control in this disorder.