Exotropia and face turn in children with homonymous hemianopia.

Four children developed homonymous hemianopia, exotropia with the deviating eye pointing in the direction of the field defect, and a face turn toward the side of the defect following complete third cranial nerve palsy after brain tumor resection, an in utero middle cerebral artery infarction, nonaccidental head trauma, and a hemispherectomy for an intractable seizure disorder. We present evidence that the exotropia and face turn are part of an adaptive mechanism to increase the useful visual field.