What is pterygium?
Pterygium is a more common chronic inflammatory lesion of the ocular surface, associated with irritating factors such as age, sex and genetic factors, long-term ultraviolet exposure, and soot pollution. Clinically, it usually presents as exfoliated tissue on the bulbous conjunctiva and cornea of the palpebral fissure, so named because the lesion tissue is triangular and similar to the shape of insect wings. It is usually more common on the nasal side of the affected eye.
Pterygium usually has no self-conscious symptoms, but it can affect the appearance; and when the corpus grows to the cornea, it may produce astigmatism due to the pulling effect; if the lesion extends to the center of the cornea and blocks the pupil, it will cause visual impairment, and in very serious cases, it will even affect eye movements to varying degrees.
What about pterygium?
Pterygium is usually difficult to eliminate on its own, and as the patient ages and the external environment constantly irritates the eye area, the corpus carcass will grow slowly. Patients are advised to visit a specialist and consult a doctor to decide whether to consider conservative treatment or surgical treatment based on the size of the corpus, the site of influence, and the rate of progression.
The best surgical resection of pterygium is usually when the pterygium crosses the corneal margin by about 2 mm. Surgery is not recommended for early detection, because the corpus is small at this time and does not have a substantial impact on vision, and premature surgery may produce unnecessary stimulation, so that the corpus recurs and grows rapidly after surgery, crossing the corneal margin and affecting vision. It is sufficient to slow down its growth with medication. When the swelling is severe, some glucocorticoid drugs are considered for control.
Commonly used surgical treatment methods in clinical practice are thalasetomy combined with autologous conjunctival transplantation, corneal margin stem cell transplantation, amniotic membrane transplantation and other methods. At the same time, it should also be noted that the recurrence rate after surgery is 20%-30%, which is relatively high. Astigmatism or blurred vision may also occur after surgery.
How to prevent pterygium?
Because the cause of pterygium is usually long-term chronic inflammation, external irritation or poor lifestyle habits of the patient. The prevention of causative factors is often effective. Usually pay attention to eye hygiene, for example, do not rub the eyes hard or use too much eye drops, etc., to avoid bad habits on the corpus to cause further irritation. Try not to go to places with large sand and dust, avoid relevant stimuli; eat lightly, avoid dry stools, prohibit tobacco and alcohol, and ensure good sleep and living habits.
After resection, care should also be taken to prevent recurrence. When the eyes are not used after surgery, try to close the eyes and rest as much as possible to avoid excessive eye movement and affect the healing of the implant.