This review summarizes the results and interpretations of studies pertaining to the long-standing debate regarding the timing of surgery in infantile esotropia, more recently referred to as essential infantile esotropia. A systematic search of studies from the year 2000 onward pertaining to the timing of surgery in infantile esotropia as listed in PubMed, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane database was performed. Appropriate cross-references from the articles were also included. Data collected included demographics, presentation, time of surgery, complications, and outcomes. Very early surgery, that is, within 6 months of the onset of infantile esotropia, offers significant advantages in terms of the quality of stereopsis and binocular vision as well as promoting the development of cortical visual processing, thereby benefiting cortical development in human infants. However, the postoperative alignment was not found to be significantly different in the very early, early, or late surgery groups. The reduction in the incidence of manifest dissociated vertical deviation postoperatively in the very early surgery group also showed measurable benefits. The results of this recent literature review demonstrated that very early surgery, within 6 months of misalignment, showed demonstrable benefits in essential infantile esotropia.
Keywords: Essential infantile esotropia; infantile esotropia; stereopsis; timing of surgery.