Pterygium is an eye condition that causes abnormal growth of fibrous tissue on the sclera. Pterygium could cause vision impairment when it reaches the area that blocks the pupil. Though the cause is still inconclusive, pterygium is associated with older age and male gender. The incidence of pterygium in Yogyakarta remains relatively unreported due to little documentation. This study aimed to report findings from the Pterygium Surgery Social Service Program, focusing on the age and sex distribution from several communities in Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta. This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Study subjects were pterygium patients from the social service program organized by the Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, in October 2018 – March 2020. There were 227 patients consisted of 151 female patients (66.5%) and 76 male patients (33.5%). There were 22 patients (9.7%) who had grade I pterygium, 137 patients (60.4%) had grade II pterygium, 45 patients (19.8%) diagnosed as having third-grade pterygium, and 23 patients (10.1%) had grade IV pterygium. On average, female patients made a higher proportion of those having pterygium in all grades. The majority of patients in all age groups fell into second-grade pterygium, except for those aged >70 years old who had a higher number of those in the grade III category. In conclusion, female subjects made a higher proportion than males in all pterygium grades, and those aged 70 years and older had a more severe stage.

This research aims to investigate the HtrA1 serine protease circulating level of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) patients in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This study was conducted from January to August 2019 which included 38 AMD patients and 16 Non-AMD patients/controls (two groups). Baseline data and blood sample were collected. ELISA assay was used to measure the HtrA1 serine protease circulating level on both groups. SNP genotyping of rs10490924 was using restriction enzyme digestion. This study used The IBM SPSS® version 24 (Chicago, The USA) to determine the relationship between HtrA1 expression level and AMD incidence. AMD patients had higher HtrA1 serine protease level (35.31) than controls (30.08). However, there is no association found between HtrA1 serine protease level and AMD incidence (p-value>0.05, CI 95 %). However, HtrA1 serine protease did not associate positively to AMD incidence in Yogyakarta samples. Further analysis by grouping AMD patient based on the rs10490924 genotype show no statistical correlation between HTRA1 to the incidence of AMD. This result might be due to the lack of samples in the study groups. Future studies with larger number of samples are advised to better see the association between Htra1 serine protease level and AMD incidence.

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is leading factors for blindness and impaired visual acuity in developed countries. It is importance to study the dynamic of cytokines concentration during the exudative event of AMD to contribute in the future drugs inventions. This research aims to investigate the IL-1β profiles in plasma of exudative AMD patients. In this cross-sectional study, blood plasma samples from 17 AMD patients and 23 age-matched were collected. Samples were examined for IL-1β inflammatory cytokines using a commercially available ELISA. Acquired data were log transformed to normalize the outlier prior student T-test (SPSS software). Based on recent research, there is a statistically difference of IL-1β among AMD patients and control. IL-1 β concentration were higher at control. Detection of high level of inflammatory cytokines supports a role for inflammation in AMD pathogenesis.