Purpose To evaluate the short-term effect of pterygium excision on tear function and conjunctival goblet cell density. Methods In all, 70 patients (70 eyes) with primary pterygia who underwent a bare-sclera procedure were enrolled in this study. Tear break-up time, Schirmer, and tear-ferning tests and conjunctival goblet cell density obtained by impression cytology were evaluated before and 1 month after surgery. Results At 1 month postoperation, the tear break-up time (11.4973.76 s) was significantly prolonged when compared with the preoperation tear break-up time (9.7473.43 s, P ¼ 0.002). Before surgery, only 17% of the patients showed normal crystallization in the tear-ferning test. This proportion was significantly increased to 90% 1 month after surgery (Po0.001). There is no significant difference in the Schirmer test value between pre-and postsurgery (P40.05). The mean goblet cell density in conjunctival impression specimens before surgery was 41.82718.29/10 fields, which was increased significantly 1 month after surgery (Po0.001) with a mean cell density of 50.67718.71/10 fields. Conclusion Tear function in patients with primary pterygium improves after pterygium excision, which indicates that pterygium has a close relationship with dry eye.

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