Pterygium in Ibadan.

This is a retrospective study of 500 eyes of 400 patients with pterygium seen over a 3 year period to determine the clinical presentations and outcome of surgery. The study showed that it was a fairly common eye condition in the south western part of Nigeria. It formed 9% of all new cases seen in the eye clinic of the University College Hospital, Ibadan and 20% of all planned ocular surgery in the same hospital. 70% of patients studied came to hospital because of the growth in their eyes. 80% of the pterygia were large, fleshy type in the nasal position. 65% of patients were outdoor workers. Surgical excision was by the 'Bare sclera' method. 40% of these patients had a recurrence of the growth. There is need to modify the available surgical method commonly performed at the University College Hospital and introduce B irradiation treatment to reduce the recurrence rate.