Comparative study of changes in corneal astigmatism after pterygium excision with conjunctival auto graft and effect of demographics on the incidence and surgical outcome

Abstract

: Aim of this article was to study the role of demographics in the incidence of pterygium and its surgical outcome and also to study the change in astigmatism in patients undergoing pterygium excision with conjunctival auto graft in the southern Indian state of Kerala.: 46 eyes of 43 patients with pterygium were studied over a period of 2 years. A complete ophthalmological examination was done. Patient data like age, sex, residing area and occupation were collected. All the patients underwent pterygium excision with auto conjunctival graft under local anaesthesia. Outcome variables like best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), keratometry, subjective refraction and extent of pterygium were recorded preoperatively as well as postoperatively at 1 month and analysed for the change in astigmatism.: Incidence of pterygium was more among patients of the age group 50-70 years, fishermen (28.3%), housewives (21.7%) and among residents of coastal area (71.7%). There was no significant difference between male and female. Majority of the patients were found to have with the rule astigmatism (56%) preoperatively with a mean of 0.88. There was a significant reduction in astigmatism postoperatively in 39 eyes with only 15.4% having clinically significant astigmatism.: There is a significant role for patient demographics in the incidence of astigmatism along the coastal areas with fishing being the most common occupation. Pterygium excision with auto conjunctival graft results in significant reduction in astigmatism which leads to improvement in visual acuity.