الفهرس 
Anatomy and Physiology of ConjunctivaOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Pterygium is a degenerative disease of the ocular surface with triangular fibrovascular tissue formation, which grows from the conjunctiva towards the surface of the cornea.
Pterygium causes impairment of vision by inducing astigmatism, as it causes localized central flattening to the apex of the pterygium.
The aim of this study is to assess the corneal changes induced by pterygium and effect of surgery on these changes through evaluation of the visual acuity and the corneal topography before and one month after the surgery and to study if these changes are reversible or not.
Fifty eyes of forty-one patients were included in this study. Twenty five male and sixteen female patients seeking pterygium surgery were recruited from the Ophthalmology Department Outpatient Clinic in Sohag Teaching Hospital during the period from July 2017 to May 2018.
Inclusion criteria included patients with primary pterygia between 20-40 years of age and with clear corneas. Exclusion criteria included patients with corneal opacities, recurrent cases, any previous surgery on the eye, history of trauma, and any other corneal pathology.
All patients were subjected to uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) measurement, refraction, anterior segment examination by slit-lamp bio-microscopy, intraocular pressure measurement by Goldmann applanation tonometry, fundus examination by indirect ophthalmoscopy and pentacam examination with respect to topographic astigmatism, Index of Surface Variance (ISV) and Index of Height Decentration (IHD). The fifty eyes underwent pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft. Then after one month the patients were examined for, visual acuity, refraction, and slit lamp examination for detection of any recurrence. Then pentacam examination was done for all patients.
A highly statistically significant improvements were found in; the mean visual acuity, the mean manifest refractive astigmatism, the mean topographic astigmatism, the mean ISV and the mean IHD (P value< 0.001) after one month to its pre-surgery values. The improvements were mainly due to correction in corneal flattening caused by pterygium. This will lead to better optical quality and further better visual acuity. Also, the corneal topographic changes induced by pterygium are almost reversible after surgical treatment of the pterygium.