Suture Less and Glue Free Limbal Conjunctival Autografting following Pterygium Excision.

A prospective interventional self-control study to analyse the profile and outcome of suture less and glue free limbal conjunctival autograft for the management of primary pterygium was carried out in 80 eyes with primary nasal pterygium requiring surgical excision. Pterygium excision with limbal conjunctival autografting without using glue or sutures was performed in all the eyes followed by bandaging for 24 hours. The patients were followed up post operatively after 24 hrs., on 3rd day, after 1, 3, 6 weeks and at 3 months. They were examined for visual acuity, hemorrhage, wound gape, graft retraction, graft edema, recurrence or any other complication among the study population. The mean age of the patients was 40.78 years (range 19-80), 56.25% of which were females. Graft retraction occurred in 3 eyes (3.75%) and recurrence was seen in 1 eye (1.25%). Hemorrhage was seen in 26 (32.5%) eyes at 24 hours, which persisted in only 06(7.5%) eyes at 3 weeks and resolved completely in 100% of eyes at 6 weeks. Edema was also noted in 4 (5%) eyes, persisted only in 1(1.25%) eye at 3rd day and resolved completely by 1 week. At 6 weeks postoperatively, three (3.75%) eyes showed gain in best corrected visual acuity by one line and one (1.25%) eye by three lines on snellen's drum. No other complication was noted. Suture less and glue free limbal conjunctival autografting following pterygium excision is an effective and safe option for the management of primary pterygium.

Gamma Linolenic Acid in Dry Eye

In this prospective study to evaluate the role of gamma linolenic acid in the management of dry eye, 100 patients of dry eyes were studied by dividing randomly into two groups of 50 each. In the test group, all the 50 patients were put on medication which consisted of cap gamma linolenic acid - 120 mg once daily dose, artificial tears solution/ointments 4-6 times daily with a topical mild steroid (loteprednol etabonate 0.5%) thrice daily. In the control group all the 50 patients were put on artificial tear solution/ointments and topical mild steroid (loteprednol etabonate 0.5%) thrice daily. All the patients were subjected to slit lamp examination, schirmer test, and fluorescien stain for tear film break up time (TBUT). In the test group symptomatic relief was shown by all 50 (100%) patients after one week of treatment. There was not much improvement in the schirmer test and TBUT results at 1 week. At 1 month follow up the result showed improvement and at 6 months there was definite increase in the schirmer test & TBUT values. The results were not influenced by the age & gender of the patients. In the control group though there was definite symptomatic relief in all the patients, but there was no change in the major study parameters i.e. tear film meniscus height; schirmer test and TBUT. At six month of the study there was marginal improvement of the major parameters but there was a lot of difference between the test and control groups. Thus gamma linolenic acid has a definite role in the management of dry eye.