Botilinum toxin in the treatment of strabismus

Abstract

Introduction: Strabismus is an oculomotor imbalance that occurs in 0.5 to 5% of the population. There are various etiopathogenetic theories and several modalities of treatment. One of these modalities is the application of botulinum toxin intramuscularly. This chemodenervation causes temporary muscle paresis which acts as a recession while its antagonist contracts. This achieves a temporary correction of strabismus. However, further research is needed. The aim of the paper was evaluation of published research studies on botulinum toxin as a treatment option in strabismus, as a primary and adjuvant therapy and as a preventive therapy in patients with abducens nerve palsy. For this purpose, we searched the major databases of the medical publications Medline and Pubmed, using keywords: strabismus, botulinum toxin. We found more than 50 articles related to our search for the last 30 years, 30 of which have been used for this review. In this review paper we have presented the most important insights from the literature, as well as our opinions and insights on the topic. Although further studies are needed regarding dosing as well as avoiding side effects, botulinum toxin has been shown to be a good alternative and adjunctive therapy to strabismus surgery, with the downside being that the effect is temporary. Positive effects and faster recovery have also been shown in patients with abducens nerve palsy.