Restoring The Comfort and Beauty of Your Eyes; Protecting Your Eye Health With Advanced Pterygium Surgery
Specialist ophthalmologist Dr. Rylan Hayes – The Vision Surgeon – has considerable experience treating conditions like pterygium in the least invasive way possible. We accomplish this with advanced, no-stitch, glue-based techniques. While pterygium and related concerns may not always require surgical intervention, proper assessment and monitoring is essential. This can be done with advanced eye scans and microscope based photography at our Sunshine Coast offices in Maroochydore, Queensland. This growth can affect the comfort, health, and appearance of your eyes.
What is a pterygium?
A pterygium is characterised by a whitish-pink, wedge-shaped, fleshy growth on the white of the eye (the conjunctiva), often progressing and expanding to cover the usually clear front surface (the cornea). Pterygium owes its name to its triangular or wedge shape (“pterygos” is the Greek word for “wing”). This fleshy tissue can cause mild to severe redness, swelling, itching, dryness, and decreased or blurry vision.
Is pterygium cancerous?
A pterygium is a benign (non-cancerous) condition; however, it can resemble pre-cancers or cancerous lesions known as ocular surface squamous neoplasia. For this reason, it is essential to have any pterygium examined by Dr. Hayes. When indicated, he uses advanced diagnostics to understand the nature of this change in the appearance and/or feel of your eye, ruling out potentially serious causes.
How do pterygia form?
We are fortunate to have so many sunny and pleasant days; however, sun exposure is the single biggest risk factor for this condition. In fact, pterygium is sometimes referred to as “surfer’s eye” for this reason. Fittingly, other risk factors include:
- Exposure to dust, sand, wind, and other irritants
- Dry eye
- Inflammation
You can help prevent pterygia from occurring, recurring, or progressing by wearing UVA-UVB sunglasses, protective or safety eyewear (such as goggles), and brimmed hats. Artificial tears and ocular lubricants also help with associated inflammation
How do you treat a pterygium?
It depends on your needs. Sometimes, a pterygium starts as a yellow, bulging patch of tissue on the whites of the eyes. This growth, known as a “pinguecula,” can develop into a small or large pterygium. Smaller pterygiums may not produce any symptoms. But some can grow sufficiently large so as to affect the cornea. When this happens, your visual acuity can be affected. The affected eye may also be very uncomfortable and irritated. Contact lens wear can become intolerable. Likewise, large pterygium growths can be cosmetically significant, very obvious in appearance. In these and other cases, the removal of the pterygium may be recommended.
How is pterygium surgery performed?
We can perform this procedure on a day surgery basis, with a local anaesthetic for comfort and some sedating medicine to relax. With both functional and aesthetic consideration, Dr. Hayes carefully removes the pterygium before a small bit of normally appearing tissue from under the eyelid is secured to the treatment site. This step in the process helps with healing, appearance, and also to reduce the rate of recurrence. Therefore, the pterygium is less likely to recur. Traditional techniques used numerous sutures to secure this piece of tissue, however, Dr. Hayes uses a signature no-stitch technique involving special biologic glue (Tisseel) for a more comfortable, more natural approach.
Why should I choose The Vision Surgeon’s Signature No-Stitch Pterygium Surgery?
Dr. Hayes uses a modern, no-stitch technique. This process typically involves removing the abnormal tissue, replacing it with healthy tissue (a graft), and securing the graft in place with a specialised biological glue. This natural substance made from donated blood products, combined with advanced techniques, usually removes the need for sutures – resulting in less discomfort, minimal downtime, faster healing, and lower recurrence rates for you. This procedure is focused on restoring natural aesthetics and visual function to your eye.
If you have a pterygium, to restore the comfort, appearance, and function of your eyes and protect their health, schedule a consultation at one of our two area locations. We serve the QLD region and beyond from our Maroochydore location – at Eye Care Specialists. Please phone us at 07 4515 6084 today.
