Conjunctival autografting for pterygium in younger people from the costal area

ABSTRACT

The major postoperative problem of pterygium, which may be mostly caused by UV light, is recurrence. So, we studied the postoperative recurrent rate and efficacy of conjunctival autograft for pterygium in younger people exposed to a high UV level. We studied 33 pterygium patients who were operated on by means of conjunctival autograft at Chonnam University Hospital by one operator from Dec. 1994 to Jun. 1995. The study was composed of 10 men (11 eyes) and 23 women (24 eyes); 29 primary (30 eyes) and 4 recurrent pterygia (5 eyes). The follow-up period was 10.7 months and their mean age was 33.9 years-old (19-39 years old). In all cases we used the superotemporal conjuctiva. Anatomic recurrence involving corneal limbus did not occur. But there were 5 cases of persistence or recurrence of preoperative symptoms epiphora (2 eyes), ocular discomfort (2 eyes), and decreased visul acuity due to induced astigmatism (1 eye). Therefore, we recommended conjunctival autograft as an effective therapeutic technique in that it is able to reduce the recurrent rate and 1mprove subjective symptoms.