Clinical outcomes of silk versus nylon sutures for suturing of conjunctival autograft in pterygium surgery

PURPOSE: The purpose is to compare the clinical results of using silk versus nylon sutures for conjunctival autograft suturing in pterygium surgery. METHODS: In this prospective, randomized, controlled, clinical trial 50 eyes from 50 patients with primary nasal pterygium were randomized to undergo pterygium surgery with the use of either nylon sutures or silk sutures for conjunctival autograft suturing. Patients were followed up for 6 months. Main outcome measures included recurrence, postoperative discomfort according to a visual analog scale (VAS), graft hyperemia, and graft edema. RESULTS: According to the results, there was no significant difference between groups regarding recurrence rate of pterygium (P = 0.72). A significant decrease in the mean VAS discomfort score from day 1 to day 14 was observed in both groups (P = 0.001); postoperative discomfort during the first 2 weeks, was not significantly different between the two groups. At 2 weeks' postoperatively, significantly greater number of nylon sutures remained on the autograft (P = 0.021), some of which were buried and could not be removed. CONCLUSION: Both silk and nylon are effective suture materials for autograft suturing in pterygium surgery with similar postoperative discomfort and recurrence rate. Significantly greater number of nylon sutures remains buried on the autograft and could not be removed easily.