As the most recent hot thing “succulent plants”, with its natural dull, harmless, healing appearance, it is really delightful. When all the household plants are presented or strong or delicate graceful posture, suddenly run out of a baby baby, but also good to raise, and does not take up space, the more people look more and more inviting rare. However, when your eyes grow a piece of succulent, things are not so wonderful, I’m afraid. The driver Wang recently was very troubled, he thought his eyes have been nothing wrong, but the last six months, he often feel uncomfortable right eye foreign body feeling, occasionally look in the mirror also found a “fleshy” corner of the eye a small thing, usually driving time a long eye red, but also often tears, so he rushed to the eye hospital for treatment. Doctor, quickly help me see, my right eye what happened, recently always uncomfortable, look closely at the corner of the eye seems to grow a piece of “meat” like a small thing, everyone said this is to get cataract? Your right eye has a pterygium, which is not the same thing as a cataract. So, doctor, what is a pterygium? Pterygium is a flesh that grows in the white of the eye, just like your right eye. Larger pterygia can be seen with the naked eye, and the image we see under the slit lamp is the same as the one below. First we need to have a more visual understanding of pterygium, which is mostly solitary and mostly seen on the side of the nose. A pterygium is a triangular-shaped vascular tissue that can be divided into three parts: head, neck, and body (below), with the tip being the head, the neck at the corneal limbus, and the body at the bulbar conjunctiva. It is not the same kind of disease as cataract, many people say that I have cataract? First of all, it is important to clarify that pterygium and cataract are two completely different diseases. As you can see below, pterygium is a superfluous tissue on the conjunctiva and cornea of the lid that invades the cornea and grows larger and larger, even covering the pupil area and seriously affecting vision (location ①), while cataract is a clouding of the lens caused by various reasons (location ②). Simply put, pterygium grows on the surface of the eye, while cataract grows inside the eye, and the location and nature of the disease are different, so the treatment options are completely different. Why do I have a “pterygium” in my eye? The development of pterygium is related to environmental factors, especially chronic irritation from sunlight, dust, dry climate, and possibly ultraviolet light. Chronic inflammatory irritation is necessary for the development of pterygium. So, doctor, will this flesh on my eye have any effect, won’t I be able to see later? When the pterygium is small, there may be no obvious symptoms, or a foreign body sensation and tears, but it will not affect vision; when the pterygium is large and thick, it may produce astigmatism and affect vision, and even prevent eye movement; when it invades the corneal pupil area, it will seriously affect vision. Doctor, is there a cure for my eye? Yes, we can surgically remove and repair the damaged area by taking the normal conjunctiva next to it. Of course, we will give different recommendations for different patients. The first step is to determine the progression of the pterygium: whether it is in the progressive or stationary stage. In the progressive stage, the head of the pterygium is elevated, the neck is wide, the body is hypertrophic, the surface is uneven, and there are thick and dilated blood vessels; in the resting stage, the head of the pterygium is flat, the body is not congested or lightly congested, the surface is smooth, and the lesion is resting. Doctor, do you think it is better for me to have the surgery earlier or later? Your pterygium is in the active stage. Use eye drops for a while to control the inflammation, and then you can consider surgery to remove it. What are the benefits of having the surgery earlier? Early pterygium has just invaded inside the corneal rim and usually does not need surgery; gradually it will grow and cause a certain degree of corneal astigmatism, which can be restored to normal after surgery; once the pterygium grows and affects the central pupil area of the cornea, it will not only cause a larger corneal astigmatism, but also leave a large white scar on the cornea after surgery, which will affect the recovery of vision, a situation that is really very unfortunate in our doctor’s opinion. Doctor, will the surgery recur afterwards? It is true that pterygium can recur after surgery, but with our “pterygium excision and autologous conjunctival transplantation”, most patients will not recur. Doctor, I should have the polyp removed as soon as possible, what do I need to do in my left eye? Wearing UV protective glasses should be a simple and easy way to prevent the development of pterygium. When a pterygium is small and stationary, it usually does not require treatment, but care should be taken to reduce irritation from sand and sunlight.