What Is A Pterygium?

Why do eye doctors always tell you to wear sunglasses? It is not only because you look pretty cool 😎! There are health benefits as well. Pterygiums are a perfect example! A what..?

A ptergyium is a growth from the conjunctiva (the white part of the eye) that grows over the cornea. They don’t look as nice as having a perfectly clean cornea but pterygiums can also cause some problems. In some cases they can irritate and inflate the eye. But more problematic is that pterygiums can effect vision. This photo shows a mild one, but if left untreated pterygiums can continue to grow causing large amounts of astigmatism or in the worse case grow over the pupil causing vision loss (fortunately this typically takes a long time to happen).

So where do the sunglasses come into play?

Getting outside on a nice sunny day is a wonderful way to spend time. However, nice sunny days come with lots of UV light. This UV light, and also wind and dust outside, affect the conjunctiva and cause ptergyiums to develop. Sunglasses simply block all of that allowing the eyes to stay healthy!

But if you neglected to wear sunglasses pterygium's can be treated and removed with a small surgery. As pterygiums continue to grow slowly, it's best to treat the pterygium as soon as it becomes bothersome or noticeable to prevent vision changes. Afterwards, back to cool sunglasses to help prevent it from growing back.

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