Comparison of Compression Continuous Suture Versus Conventional Suture for Autologous Conjunctival Implant Fixation in Primary Pterygium Surgery: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Pterygium is an abnormal fibrovascular tissue hyperplasia disease that occurs in the conjunctiva. The pterygium tissue can break through the limbus of the corneosclera and grow into the cornea, causing a foreign body sensation in the eyes, astigmatism, decreased vision, and even restricted eye movement. The purpose of surgical treatment for pterygium is not only to remove the diseased tissue, but more importantly, to reduce the recurrence of pterygium after surgery. Pterygium excision combined with simple autologous conjunctival transplantation is currently the most commonly used method for treating pterygium. The recurrence rate after autologous conjunctival epithelial tissue transplantation can be reduced to 5% to 30%.

As heterogenic substances, sutures can irritate the ocular surface, aggravate postoperative inflammatory reactions and conjunctival edema or hemorrhage, delay the repair of corneal wound epithelium, lead to abnormal ocular surface function, intensify postoperative discomfort, and induce hypertrophic granuloma or cysts, etc. Moreover, these adverse reactions can also induce the recurrence of pterygium (0-26%). In addition, the longer the time interval between suture removal, The greater the difficulty of removal, the more likely some of the knots may be completely buried under the conjunctiva. Therefore, in order to alleviate the adverse reactions caused by sutures and further simplify the operation of pterygium excision surgery, many attempts have been made at home and abroad to improve and innovate the method of graft fixation.