Purpose:
To evaluate the safety and recurrence rates using 0.1ml of 0.15mg/ml Mitomycin C subconjuntival injection as adjunctive therapy 1 month before Pterygium surgery in a long-term analysis.
Methods:
Eleven patients ( 4 male, 7 female; eleven eyes. Ages ranging from 39 to 72; average 54.55 years old ) with pterygium were enrolled.
Results:
During an average follow-up period of 38.54 months there was no recurrences (defined as fibrovascular growth > 1mm past the limbus). No patients presented visual decrease. Two patients (18.18%) presented considerable scleral thinning at the injection site, one with posterior fibrovascular tissue growth on this area. Three patients (27.27%) complained monocular mild pain and photophobia, since the subconjuntival injection, persisting until last evaluation.
Conclusions:
The use of Mitomycin C subconjuntival injection 1 month before pterygium extraction was effective against recurrence in our case series (without recurrences) .It is a very simple and fast surgycal technique to perform, but we must take caution against the potential side effects for Mitomycin C use. We could observe scleral thinning with the 0.15mg/ml dose (2/11) and patients complaining ocular pain and photophobia years after the injection (3/11).
Keywords: pterygium • conjunctiva • anterior segment