Alteration in corneal astigmatism and tear stability in patients undergoing surgical excision of ptreygium- a prospective study undertaken in a tertiary centre in south Kerala

Alterations in corneal astigmatism and tear stability in patients undergoing surgical excision of pterygium: a prospective study undertaken in a tertiary centre in south Kerala. Objective: To analyse the effect of surgical intervention on corneal astigmatism & tear stability in patients with ptreygium. Methodology: In this prospective observational study conducted in ophthalmology department, Dr. SMCSI Medical College, Karakonam, 39 eyes with primary pterygium enrolled between January 2016 to May 2017 for pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft, were analysed. Preoperatively and one month post operative. Uncorrected & best corrected visual acuity, keratometry readings (K1, K2) was recorded. Pterygia were graded as grade I, II, III & IV.TBUT and Schirmer's test used to measure tear function. Descriptive measures were calculated using percentage or mean (SD). Pre-operative and post-operative difference in values of astigmatism and tear function tests were assessed using test of significance, paired t-test. Results: Of the patients enrolled with primary pterygium, 56.4% (22) were females and 43.6% (17) males. 42% had right eye ptreygium and 58 % in the left. 84.3 %( 33) were nasal, 12.8% (5) temporal and 2.6 %( 1) double pterygium. 76.9 %( 30) were grade II, 10.3% (4) grade III, 12.8% (5) grade IV. There was a reduction in astigmatism from 2.29 +/- 1.4D to 1.02 +/- 0.74D (p<0> Conclusion: Surgical intervention proved beneficial for patients with pterygium in terms of reduction of refractive astigmatism. A statistically significant change was not observed in tear function.