Improvement in quality of life and ocular surface symptoms after pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft and fibrin glue: a prospective study.

INTRODUCTION AND

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate changes in quality of life in patients with pterygium before and after pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft using standardized questionnaires.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A prospective observational study including patients scheduled for pterygium surgery was conducted. Patients completed the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and the Visual Function Questionnaire 25 (NEI VFQ-25) before surgery and at 2 and 6 months postoperatively. Sex, age, prior treatments, visual acuity, and corneal and limbal pterygium extension were recorded. A standard surgical procedure was performed by experienced ocular surface surgeons under topical anaesthesia, consisting of pterygium excision via avulsion followed by superior conjunctival autograft fixation using tissue adhesive.

RESULTS

Twenty eyes were included in this study: mean age 50.0 ± 11.5 years, and 12 patients (60%) were male. Visual acuity was 0.8 ± 0.2 (decimal scale), and the mean pterygium size was 3.3 ± 1.0 mm of corneal invasion and 3.3 ± 1.1 mm of limbal invasion. The mean preoperative OSDI score was 47.6 ± 20.6 (no differences between sexes; P = .650), which decreased significantly to 35.8 ± 18.1 at 2 months (11.8 [95%CI, 4.5-19.1]; P = .001) and to 29.0 ± 13.9 at 6 months postoperatively (18.6 [95%CI, 9.6-27.5]; P < .001). The mean preoperative NEI VFQ-25 score was 71.8 ± 6.8, with no significant differences between males and females (P = .928). Mean VFQ scores differed significantly across time points (F (1.5, 29.1) = 3.7; P = .047), although post hoc analysis showed no significant pairwise differences.

CONCLUSIONS

Pterygium surgery significantly improves ocular symptomatology in most patients, with improvement observed within the first 6 months postoperatively.