COMPARISON OF 'CUT AND PASTE (USING FIBRIN GLUE)' VS 'CUT AND SUTURE (USING 8-0 VICRYL SUTURES)' TECHNIQUES OF PTERYGIUM SURGERY

Background: In recent times, the universal trend toward simpler, quicker & more comfortable surgical procedures have fostered the development of suture-less techniques & hence use of fibrin glue for attaching conjunctival autograft after pterygium excision. Objectives: To assess and compare the mean surgical time, post-operative discomfort and recurrences among patients undergoing Pterygium excision and conjunctival autografting using fibrin glue; with Pterygium excision and conjunctival autografting using 8-0 Vicryl sutures. Materials and methods: 60 patients with primary pterygium randomized into two groups. Group A (n=30) underwent autografting using fibrin glue; Group B (n=30) underwent autografting using 8-0 Vicryl suture. P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Surgical times were noted as: Total surgical time from 1 st conjunctival cut to removal of lid speculum, time for excision of pterygium and time to secure graft on the bed. Post operative discomfort was assessed using pretested questionnaires Results: Mean surgical time for Pterygium excision with conjunctival autografting using fibrin glue (15.86min) is significantly less as compared to sutures(27.93min); P=0.001. Post-operative discomfort was significantly less in cases of fibrin glue (10% patients) in comparison to suture group (56.6%patients). The observed difference between the recurrence rates in the group A (3.3%) and Group B (20%) was statistically significant. Conclusion: Fibrin glue reduces the surgical time, post-operative discomfort to the patients and has lower recurrence rates in comparison to conjunctival autografting using sutures following pterygium