Recurrence of pterygium after surgery with conjunctival autograft – long term follow-up

Aim of the study:
To evaluate the results and recurrence of pterygium after surgical treatment of the primary condition with autotransplantation of the conjunctival tissue of the ipsilateral eye to the defect site at our workplace with a follow-up period of at least one year.

Material and methods
The medical documentation of all patients who underwent primary pterygium surgery with conjunctival autograft in the monitored period February 2018 to July 2019 was retrospectively evaluated. The authors mainly studied the recurrence of the disease using this surgical technique. Furthermore, the influence on visual functions, refractive parameters and possible complications of therapy was evaluated. The average follow-up time of our cohort was 21.8 months.

Results
We did not observe recurrence in any patient during the entire follow-up period. Uncorrected visual acuity was improved by at least one line of the logMAR optotype in 5 eyes and corrected visual acuity in 2 eyes. According to Wilcoxon’s paired test, changes in uncorrected and corrected visual acuity were not statistically significant at a significance level of 0.05. In 5 patients the astigmatism was reduced by at least 0.5 cylindrical diopters (Dcyl), while in other patients the astigmatism remained stable after surgery. We did not observe any complications during or after surgery.

Conclusions
Excision with conjunctival autograft is an effective and safe method of treatment of primary pterygium. This technique has a low incidence of disease recurrence. We did not observe the return of the pathology in any of our patients during the follow-up. It was possible to stabilize or improve the patients’ visual functions and refraction.