Changes in Eye Movement Amplitude after Conjunctivo-Limbal Autograft in Patients with Recurrent Pterygium, Ocular Motility Restriction

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#To investigate changes in eye movement amplitude after conjunctival recession and conjunctivo-limbal autograft for treating recurrent pterygium with ocular motility restriction. @*Methods@#We retrospectively analyzed 18 eyes of 16 patients who had recurrent pterygium with ocular motility restriction, who had received conjuntivo-limbal autografts from January 2011 to December 2019 and who had been followed-up for more than 6 months. We evaluated changes in eye movement amplitude, best corrected visual acuity, uncorrected visual acuity, corneal astigmatism and keratometry, and recurrence and complication rates before and after surgery. @*Results@#The mean age of the patients was 63.9 ± 9.7 years. Eye movement amplitude increased significantly from 5.80 ± 1.70 mm preoperatively to 7.02 ± 1.37 mm postoperatively (p < 0.001). The mean UCVA increased from 0.67 ± 0.46 preoperatively to 0.36 ± 0.35 postoperatively (p < 0.001). The mean corneal astigmatism decreased from 3.51 diopters (D) preoperatively to 1.22 D postoperatively (p = 0.001). According to the power vector analysis, M and B were significantly reduced after the surgery, but the changes in J0 and J45 were not significant. No recurrence of pterygium was observed. @*Conclusions@#Eye movement amplitude for severe recurrent pterygium with symblepharon or ocular motility restriction quantitatively measured the range of ocular movement clinically and was applied to determine the severity of recurrent pterygium and predict the surgical outcome. Conjunctivo-limbal autograft for severe recurrent pterygium is thought to be a safe and effective surgical method because it solves the ocular motility restriction caused by adhesions and has low recurrence rates, although it requires the skilled experience and techniques of the operator and a long operation time.