Management of Recurrent Pterygia

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the postoperative outcomes of different surgical techniques with adjunctive therapy for the management of recurrent pterygia. MATERIALS and METHODS: Twenty eyes of twenty patients (7 females and 13 males, mean age 42.3 +/9.6 years) operated on for recurrent pterygia at the Research Institute of Ophthalmology, were recruited in this study. Patients were randomized into two groups: In group1, ten eyes of ten patients were done with conjunctival autograft and in group 2, ten eyes of ten patients were done with limbal conjunctival autografting. All eyes received intraoperative mitomycin C 0.01% for 3 minutes applied to the bare sclera at the time of the operation. The site of application of mitomycin C was thoroughly irrigated with balanced salt solution. All eyes were followed up every month for 12 months. RESULTS: After a mean postoperative follow up of 12 months, only one eye had a recurrence after 4 months in the limbal conjunctival autogrft group and there were two eye with recurrence after 2 and 4 month in the conjunctival autografting group (p = 0.027). No severe side effects appeared during the follow up period. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the efficacy of adjunctive therapy in improving the success rate after recurrent pterygium surgical excision. There was no difference between the two surgical procedures in the two groups, we also found no serious complications from using a low concentration (0.01%) of mitomycine C which was effective also in prevention of recurrences. [Ahmed A Zaki , Sherif Emerah , Mohamed Ramzy, Hany M Labib. Management of Recurrent Pterygia. Journal of American Science 2011;7(1):230-234]. (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.jofamericanscience.org.