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Abstract

Background: Pterygium is a common disorder of ocular surfaceand several different surgeries are being performed to decrease the high recurrence of bare sclera technique, such as conjunctival autografting and amniotic membrane grafting. Aim: To evaluate the effect of pterygium size on corneal astigmatism before and after pterygium excision surgery with amniotic membrane grafting; and the benefits and safety of amniotic membrane grafting in pterygium surgery. Material and Methods: A total of 100 patients with primary pterygium underwent pterygium excision surgery with amniotic membrane grafting. All patients were subjected to clinical refraction at 6 weeks after recording uncorrected and best corrected visual acuity on Snellen's chart. Results: Out of the 100 patients 95 patients (95%) had improvement in unaided visual acuity of one line or more on Snellen's chart and the remaining 5 patients (5%) had no improvement in unaided visual acuity. There was a highly significant difference in residual astigmatism with increasing grade/size of pterygium. None of the patients had recurrence or graft infection or any vision threatening complications. Conclusion: Early excision of pterygium with amniotic membrane grafting should be employed in all cases of pterygium as early as possible as it is safe, highly effective modality in the management of primary pterygium.