Abstract

Introduction: Pterygium is one of the very common ophthalmic disorders with an unknown etiology and pathogenesis. Growth of pterygium into the cornea can result in visual impairment, astigmatism, loss of corneal transparency, visual axis obstruction.
Materials and methods: This cross sectional study was done on 500 patients, where demographic details was taken from all the patients including living environment, status, time outdoors, familial history, drug abuse, history of smoking, type of work and education, use of glasses. All of them underwent regular ophthalmic examinations including systemic and comprehensive examination as well as refraction.
Results: The prevalence of Pterygium was 12.6%. 35.6% of the patients were females and 64.4% were males. 51.2% belonged to the 30-39 year age group. 33.3% were farmers and 54% were manual labourers, 61.9%) of the patients had passed their high school while 28.6% were illiterate, 73% had no familial history of pterygium, 61.9% were regular smokers and 25.4% were occasional smokers. 36.5% of the patients had hypertension and 25.4% were obese.
Conclusion: Pterygium formation in our geographical area is quite high and the most common risk factor is exposure to sunlight. Male gender, hypertension and smoking also appear to be associated risk factors. Use of sunglasses may help in reduction of the prevalence of Pterygium.