A Prospective Study of Pterygium Excision and Conjunctival Autograft With Human Fibrin Tissue Adhesive: Effects on Vision, Refraction, and Corneal Topography

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate changes in visual acuity, corneal parameters, and topographic parameters after pterygium surgery. Design: A prospective observational study was conducted. Methods: Twenty eyes of 20 participants undergoing pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft secured using human fibrin tissue adhesive were included in the study. All the participants were assessed preoperatively and 1 and 3 months postoperatively. The parameters included subjective refraction, visual acuity, and pterygium size (pterygium horizontal corneal length [PHCL]) and corneal tomography by Pentacam rotating Scheimpflug tomographer (OCULUS Optikgerate GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany). The astigmatic changes were calculated using vector analysis. Results: The mean age of participants was 49.3 +/- 12.1 years. Mean PHCL was 2.68 +/- 0.30 mm. The mean best corrected visual acuity preoperatively was 6/7.5, improving significantly to 6/6 at 1 month (P = 0.001) with this improvement remaining stable at 3 months postoperatively (P = 0.34). There was no significant change in subjective astigmatism, however, mean topographic astigmatism decreased significantly at 1 month (4.36 diopter, P < 0.01) and remained unchanged at 3 months ( P < 0.01). Greater PHCL was associated with greater changes in corneal astigmatism. Conclusions: Significant improvements and early stabilization of visual acuity and topographic astigmatism confirm the optical benefits of pterygium excision. These data also suggest a significant advantage of performing pterygium before rather than simultaneously with or after cataract surgery by enabling the most accurate biometry.