Role of orthoptic treatment in the management of intermittent exotropia.

30 patients of intermittent ACDS were studied prospectively for a period of 8 weeks to 1 year to evaluate the role of orthoptics in the management of these cases. In patients with convergence insufficiency and a maximum deviation of 25 PD or less the orthoptic treatment was found to be effective in offering symptomatic relief and improving binocular functional status. A reduction in the maximum angle of deviation by 4 PD to 8 PD was observed in 4 patients. Even though the basic angle of deviation remained unchanged in most of the patients, significant functional and symptomatic improvement was obtained in 64% to 85.7% of these cases. The long term stability of these results remains to be studied. In patients with a deviation of more than 25 PD there was no significant improvement in symptoms or reduction in maximum angle of deviation. In 6(37.5%) of these patients some improvement in the fusional range could be demonstrated on the synoptophore without any symptomatic relief.