Management of recurrent pterygium

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the outcome following surgical excision of recurrent pterygium, the efficacy of adjunctive therapy utilized in conjunction with excision of recurrent pterygium, and the complications of surgical intervention. A retrospective study of 77 eyes of 77 patients at the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh who had surgical excision of recurrent pterygium between January 1991 and December 2000, and were followed up for more than three months. Fifty-one patients had simple excision with conjunctival autograft, 12 patients had simple excision, 7 had simple excision with application of mitomycin C, 4 had simple excision with conjunctival autograft and mitomycin C, 2 had excision of pterygium with amniotic membrane transplant [AMT], and 1 had excision with cryotherapy of the pterygium bed. The rate of recurrence was 27, 17, 1.4, 0.0, 0.0, and 100 percent respectively; no serious complication was encountered for any of these procedures. As the recurrent rate in secondary pterygium is high, simple excision cannot be considered as the only option. Simple excision and AMT showed impressive and promising results, and could be considered as a first procedure for recurrent pterygium