Abstract
Purpose
Patching of the operative eye is occasionally used in pediatric strabismus surgery. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the psychological and physiologic effects of patching after operation by multifactorial methods.
Methods
We analyzed the perioperative behaviors of 61 children with strabismus conducted from June 2012 to July 2013 in this prospective longitudinal study. The children were randomized into 2 groups. Patients in the patching group underwent postoperative patching and others received no patching. Main outcome measures included The Faces Pain Scale–Revised score or numerical rating scales score, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale (CHEOPS) score, crying time, and pre-operative and postoperative physiologic parameters.
Results
Crying time was significantly longer in the patching group than in the no patching group, but self-report scores showed no difference in the groups. Repeated-measures analysis of variance on ranks revealed that postoperative CHEOPS score was lower in the no patching group than in the patching group, whereas no physiologic parameters were significantly different in the 2 groups.
Conclusions
Patching is not necessary for reducing postoperative pain or the risk of infection in children undergoing strabismus surgery.
Keywords
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