Releasable Single Suture for Primary Pterygium Excision With a Conjunctival Autograft

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of a releasable single suture for pterygium excision with a conjunctival autograft (CAG). Methods: Retrospective case series at a tertiary eye care center in central India was conducted. Medical records of 150 patients, who underwent primary pterygium excision with a CAG secured by a single releasable 10-0 nylon suture in the last year were reviewed. The surgical duration was noted. The suture was released on the first postoperative day under topical anesthesia. Patients were followed up until 1 year. At each visit, factors studied were patient comfort [pain grading on a visual analog scale], graft apposition, complications, and recurrence. Results: Mean age of patients was 39+/-11 years. Most patients in our study were female (58.7%). Sixty percent of pterygia were of Tan grade 2. The mean duration of surgery was 4.8+/-1.3 minutes. The maximum size of the CAG was 6 mm (3-6 mm). The graft retraction rate was 5.3% (1 mm retraction in the CAG more than 5.5 mm) with no event of graft loss. Four percent of patients had grade 1 recurrence. Conclusions: Releasable single suture may offer a good and simple alternative, which uses the gold standard technique of the CAG with exclusion of suture-related complications.