Pterygium is a benign tumor of conjunctival origin invading the cornea.
It is most often located in the "white" of the eye in the inner angle of the eyelids (the canthus), on the nasal side.
This conjunctivo-elastic tumor most often takes the shape of a triangle compared to a "wing" (Greek etymology of the term pterys).
Promoted by UV exposure and dry eyes.
Surgical treatment of pterygium has several objectives:
Maintain visual function threatened by progressive invasion of the corneal surface, restore the aesthetics of the eye, prevent recurrences, restore visual function in the event of invasion of the pupillary area.
Spontaneously, after a simple excision, recurrence occurs in a significant proportion of cases, varying according to the development of the lesion and the primary or secondary nature of the intervention.
It is important to carefully determine the time of the surgical indication because the more operations are performed, the greater the risk of recurrence.
This poses therapeutic problems, due to the exhaustion of the conjunctival capital available for autografting.
It is therefore essential to implement the best possible preventive strategy from the first pterygium operation.
To avoid frequent recurrences, some methods are based on the destruction of conjunctival fibroblastic cells, application of mitomycin C or other antimetabolite agent (thiothepa), radiotherapy by beta irradiation with Strontium 90.
The majority of methods currently used include reconstruction of the excision area:
- by a conjunctival autograft, an excellent and simple method,
- by a corneal autograft,
- by a lamellar corneal allograft.