Pterygium surgery was that a big mistake ?

[soni1955]

My husband had the eye condition call Pterygium for over 20 years , last year an eye doctor strongly suggested the surgery. He had the surgery 17 days ago and we were mislead by the doctor who said that it was a simple surgery and he would recover and be back to work in less than 10 days .I ask a lot of question because he is a blue collar worker and I was concern that if he return to work to soon there may be complications.  After 7 days the doctor release him to go to work and two days later he had a dark spot in the eye , it would come and go and he started getting pain above the eye . When he was seen by the doctor she had no explanation , the head doctor said itwas pigmentation cause possible by the medication that dry the eye so they decided  to patch his eye for 24 hrs , next day another 24 hrs. The head doctor told us that he had seen that before in a few patients and probably he would required another surgery. We are devastated , he has gone through  so much pain , discomfort and now stress . My daughter was very upset and is asking me to go to another doctor for a second opinion.


This discussion is related to Pterygium Removal Surgery; Options, Post Unsuccessful Procedure.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

If you will use the search feature and archives you can read many posts about pterygium surgery. I would never describe it as "simple" the healing often takes months and months. Most eyes quiet down and no longer look red after 3-4 months.

I would suggest a second opinion for another eye surgeon Eye MD. Unless he is a steroid responder there usually is merit in staying on at least a low dose steroid drop.

JCH MD

[alina232]

Hi,
My fiance had a pterygium surgery about six weeks ago. We were mislead by the doctor who said it will be very simple and get rid of the redness. The pain he had in his eye after the surgery was terrible, his vision became worst then before, and the eye is very very red, alot more then before. We are very frastrated because the reason he did this surgery was cosmetic and now the way his eye looks is very bad. it looks like he has blood in his eye. The doctor saw him 4-5 times after surgery and everytime he says it looks very good. In the last appointment, when we said we wont opperate the other eye, he told us that it will always stay red. He never said that before, especially in the first appointment when he said he will get rid of the redness. Any suggestions?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Go ahead and get a second opinion.

JCH III MD