We report the clinical outcomes of patients undergoing additional widening of the limbal incision to prevent disease recurrence after conjunctivo-limbal autograft combined with pterygial excision.

We retrospectively compared 95 eyes with primary and 12 eyes with recurrent pterygia randomized to treatment via two surgical methods: conjunctivo-limbal autograft alone and combined with widening of the limbal incision to allow for pterygial removal. We widened the limbal incisions by 1 mm on both the superior and inferior limbal margins and removed the pterygia. The outcomes were compared between 39 eyes undergoing conjunctivo-limbal autograft alone and 68 eyes undergoing conjunctivo- limbal autograft with widening of the limbal incision.

The mean overall postoperative follow-up period was 29.6 ± 10.5 months and conjunctivo-limbal autograft alone group was 27.4 ± 11.5 months, combined with widening of the limbal incision group was 30.7 ± 9.7 months. Six pterygia (15.4%; four primary and two recurrent) developed in those undergoing conjunctivo-limbal autograft alone and two (2.9%; one primary and one recurrent) in those undergoing additional widening of the limbal incision; the recurrence rate differed significantly between the two groups ( p < 0.05). In the group treated with conjunctivo-limbal autograft alone, the mean time to development of a new primary pterygium was 6.3 ± 3.4 months and that to development of a recurrent pterygium 4.3 ± 2.5 months; the respective values for the group undergoing additional widening of the limbal incision were 12.1 ± 2.6 and 8.4 ± 4.6 months; the recurrence rates differed significantly ( p < 0.05).

Conjunctivo-limbal autograft with additional widening of the limbal incision used to treat both new primary and recurrent pterygia was more effective in terms of reducing pterygial recurrence than conjunctivo-limbal aAutograft alone.