The Astigmatic Effect of Pterygium in a Tertiary Hospital in Kano, Nigeria

AIM This study aims to determine the effect of pterygium excision on the degree of corneal induced astigmatism and visual acuity. PATIENTS AND METHODS This was a prospective interventional study conducted between September 2012 and June 2013. Consecutive patients with pterygium who met the inclusion criteria were recruited into the study. They had a basic eye examination, and those with existing comorbidity were excluded. Selected patients had pterygium excision using the bare sclera technique with intraoperative application of Mitomycin C. Detailed pre- and post-operative evaluation and refraction was done. RESULTS There were 45 eyes of 33 patients aged 28-75 years. The mean age was 56.12 + 12.38 years. Six eyes had Grade I, 29 eyes had Grade II and 10 eyes had Grade III pterygium. The mean value for preoperative astigmatism was 2.12 ± 1.09 diopter cylinder (DC) while that for postoperative astigmatism was 0.72 ± 0.50 DC (P = 0.000). Surgery was associated with statistically significant increase in postoperative visual acuity. (P = 0.000). CONCLUSION This study has shown that the degree of pterygium-induced astigmatism reduces significantly following surgical excision. Pterygium excision was associated with improvement in visual acuity.