Comparison of conjunctival autograft and conjunctival transposition flap techniques in primary pterygium surgery.

Purpose: To investigate and compare the efficacy of conjunctival autograft and conjunctival transpositional flap for the treatment of primary pterygium surgery.

Design: Retrospective, interventional case series analysis.

Materials and methods: Medical records of 48 patients who underwent pterygium surgery by conjunctival autograft or conjunctival transpositional graft for primary pterygium surgery were reviewed. The conjunctival defects after pterygium excision were repaired in 21 eyes with conjunctival autograft and in 27 eyes with conjunctival transpositional flaps. All operations were performed under subconjunctival anesthesia using 8.0 vicryl sutures. Two groups were compared in terms of pterygium size, surgery time, complications and pterygium recurrence.

Results: Mean pterygium size was 2.8 mm in conjunctival transpositional flap group, and 3.4 mm in conjunctival autograft group ( p  < 0.01). Mean surgery time in conjunctival transpositional flap and conjunctival autograft groups was 15.9 and 21.7 min, respectively. The haematoma formation under the graft was observed postoperatively in one eye of conjunctival autograft group. The only one case of recurrence was observed in both conjunctival autograft and conjunctival transpositional flap groups (3.7% and 4.7%, respectively). Mean follow up time was 11.78 months in conjunctival transpositional flap group and 14.95 months in conjunctival autografting group ( p  < 0.01).

Conclusion: Both conjunctival transpositional flap and conjunctival autograft techniques have same results in terms of pterygium recurrence and surgery complications in the treatment of primary pterygium. Surgery time in conjunctival transpositional flap technique is significantly shorter. Conjunctival transpositional flap technique may be a good alternative method for primary pterygıum surgery.