Topical cyclosporine A in the prevention of pterygium recurrence

To investigate the efficacy and safety of postoperative topical cyclosporine A 0.05% (tCsA) (Restasis, Allergan Pharmaceutical) eye drops in preventing the recurrence of pterygium.

31 patients with bilateral pterygium were examined between January 2006 and February 2007. During a 1-year follow-up, the right eyes of the patients assigned as the treatment group were treated by tCsA and the left eyes were considered as the control group.

The pterygium recurred in 4 (12.9%) of 31 right eyes in the treatment group and in 14 (45.2%) of 31 left eyes in the control group (p = 0.005). The mean follow-up +/- SD was 9.39 +/- 4.14 months (range, 1 to 12 months). The control group had a 7.37 times higher risk of recurrence in pterygium compared with the treatment group (OR = 0.1357, p = 0.0051). A statistically significant difference in recurrence-free probabilities was found for the treatment and control groups (log-rank test; p = 0.006). A multivariate Cox regression model showed that age (p = 0.0093) and tCsA (p = 0.0103) were independent statistically significant impacts on recurrence-free time for pterygium.

This study suggests that primary excision of pterygium with postoperative instillation of 0.05% cyclosporine is both safe and efficient.