CHANGES IN CORNEAL ASTIGMATISM BEFORE AND AFTER PTERYGIUM EXCISION WITH BARE SCLERA TECHNIQUE AND CONJUNCTIVAL AUTO GRAFT.

Abstract

Objectives: the goal of this study was to assess the changes in corneal astigmatism after pterygium removal with the bare sclera technique and conjunctival auto graft technique . Patients and methods: the study included 40 eyes of 40 patients with primary pterygium who underwent surgery in a prospective comparative study. Twenty individuals had their scleras removed using the bare sclera procedure (group 1). The remaining 20 patients had their eyes removed and had conjunctival autografts (group2). All patients had a complete ophthalmic examination, including visual acuity, anterior and posterior segment examinations, refraction, and keratometry, preoperatively and postoperatively at day 7, one month, and three months, with the results analyzed. Results: preoperative corneal astigmatism was (3.521.66) on average. At three months, the mean postoperative corneal astigmatism was (1.431.12). At three months after surgery, there was a statistically significant reduction in corneal astigmatism. At 3 months after surgery, the bare sclera method and conjunctival autograft both showed a reduction in corneal astigmatism of (1.690.84) and (2.561.56), respectively. Pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft is more successful than bare sclera excision in lowering corneal astigmatism, according to the study (0.033). Conclusion: pterygium removal reduces corneal astigmatism significantly and Pterygium excision with con-junctival autograft technique resulted in better reduction of corneal astigmatism than excision with bare sclera technique. in most of the cases. Pterygium excision can significantly reduce corneal astigmatism. Pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft technique resulted in better reduction of corneal astigmatism than excision with bare sclera technique.