DR. JAMES WATSON WHITE was the first to operate on the inferior oblique muscle at its insertion, when, in 1936, he performed a recession of its tendon on the globe. He described the surgical technic, and the highly successful results obtained, in the June 1943 issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.1 The procedure was immediately recognized as a most significant contribution to ophthalmic surgery, and repetition by others of Dr. White's faultless result attests its value.2 It seems appropriate, therefore, to refer to this operation—the recession of the tendon of the inferior oblique muscle—as the James Watson White operation.
In doing the White operation at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, without detaching the lateral rectus muscle, I have not found the usual approach through the conjunctiva completely satisfactory. The incision is usually made downward from the tendon of the lateral rectus muscle, and at