Comparison of conjunctival graft thickness after primary and recurrent pterygium surgery: Anterior segment optical coherence tomography study

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the following study is to compare the conjunctival graft thickness measured with anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) after primary and recurrent pterygium excision. DESIGN: Prospective, interventional and comparative study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 20 eyes of 20 patients with primary pterygium (primary group) and 20 eyes of 20 patients with recurrent pterygium (recurrent group) were enrolled. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients underwent pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft transplantation. Conjunctival graft thickness was measured at 1 week, 1 month and 3 months after surgery using the Visante-OCT (Carl-Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA, USA). Main outcome measure was the mean conjunctival thickness determined as the mean of three measurements at 1, 2 and 3 mm posterior to the scleral spur. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in age, sex, or laterality between the groups. Mean thickness of the graft in primary and recurrent groups, respectively, was 430 ± 127 μm and 461 ± 178 μm at 1 week after surgery (P = 0.587), 114 ± 19 μm and 162 ± 48 μm at 1 month after surgery (P = 0.001) and 109 ± 15 μm and 107 ± 18 μm at 3 months after surgery (P = 0.726). CONCLUSION: The findings revealed that conjunctival thickness after primary or recurrent pterygium excision was greatest at 1 week after surgery and continued to decrease for up to 3 months. Mean graft thickness differed significantly between the two groups only at 1 month after surgery.