Pterygium Surgery in Miami

Pterygium

Pterygium (pronounced “tur-RIDGE-ium”) is a noncancerous thickening of the outer coating (conjunctiva) of the eye that grows onto the cornea. Growth of a pterygium usually starts near the corner of the eye by the bridge of the nose. It will start to grow, eventually spreading to cover the cornea. Even though pterygium is not cancerous, it will produce blurry vision and irritation leading most patients to want it removed. When symptoms of redness, irritation, or blurred vision are resistant to conservative treatment or when vision is affected by the progressive growth of a pterygium, surgery is considered. 

These are some of the most common factors that can cause Pterygium to form in your eye:

• Unprotected exposure to UV light from the sun and other sources
• Dust, sand, pollen, smoke, and other irritants get into the eye
• Living in a warm, tropical climate

Pterygium Surgery

When considering any surgery or procedure, the most important consideration is choosing the best, most experienced, and highly skilled surgeon. In choosing Dr. Montenegro, you may feel confident he has performed over 2,000 Pterygium surgeries. 

The operative eye is completely numbed using eye drops before the procedure to avoid any discomfort or pain during the procedure. Dr. Montenegro utilizes the advanced autograft surgery technique with tissue fibrin glue for a no-stitches approach to the Pterygium removal procedure where the abnormal cornea tissue is removed and replaced with a thin graft of normal tissue.

No-stitch pterygium surgery is made possible by using modern tissue adhesive composed of clotting proteins normally found in human blood. Tissue adhesive allows for successful conjunctival autograft transplantation in seconds rather than minutes. After about one week, the tissue adhesive dissolves, leaving no residue, and the eye heals comfortably.

Dr. Montenegro’s pterygium surgical technique results in superior patient outcomes, including low recurrence rates.