Very long term success of pterygium surgery with conjunctival graft

Purpose: To examine to the very long term prognosis (16 years in average) of pterygium surgery with superior or inferior conjunctival graft.

Methods: Clinical data for patients that underwent pterygium surgery with conjunctival graft by two surgeons at the Goldschleger Eye Institute, Sheba Medical Center, Israel, between the years 1997-2001 were retrieved from medical records. For all the included patients, data about their eye examinations was summarized and a questionnaire about their eye history was done.

Results: Twenty four patients were included in the study. Eleven with superior conjunctival flap (Group 1), and thirteen with inferior conjunctival graft (Group 2). In group 1, there was one surgery for recurrent pterygium, and two in group 2. In all cases the grafts were sutured and Mitomycin C was not used. No recurrence of pterygium was found in either group. No eye complications or side effects were found after sixteen years in average.

Conclusions: After a very long follow-up of almost two decades there are no recurrences of pterygium or complications when using upper conjunctival flap or lower conjunctival graft during the surgery. It seems that lower graft is as good as upper flap for preventing recurrence of pterygium. Larger studies are required in order to confirm these results.