A case of watering eye due to pterygium.

PATIENTS suffering from pterygium do not usually complain of anything. Advice is generally sought because the patient is told by his friends that something, a piece of skin, is growing on the eye. In Malta, pterygium is popularly known as " karnita ", octopus. The patient is very upset by the information that this marine inhabitant is gnawing at the eye, and soon asks for treatment. The particular interest attaching to this case was that epiphora was the chief accompanying sign of pterygium. Fuchs (1917) gives a masterly and detailed description of pterygium. No mention is made of lacrimation. Duke-Elder (1938), De Schweinitz (1913), and Gifford (1938), say nothing about pterygium as one of the causes of watering eyes.