Purpose To investigate the retinal vascular network alterations in eyes of patients with pterygium. Method 18 left eyes from 18 female pterygium patients and 18left eyes from 18female healthy control subjectswere enrolled.Optical coherence tomography angiography(OCTA) images were generated of the superficial retinallayer (SRL) and deeper retinal layer (DRL) of the macular retina for each eye. The microvascular(MIR) and macrovascular (MAR) densities were calculated and MIR, MAR, and total MIR (TMI) density was compared in the healthycontrol and pterygium groups. Results In pterygium group,in the SRL,the vascular density in SMIR (superficial MIR), SR(superior right), IR(inferior right), R(right), SC(superficial central annuli)1, SC2 and SC3decreased significantly in the maculararea (P<.05). Furthermore, the vascular density in all those decreased regions except R, was significantly and negatively correlated with the disease course ( r=-0.6038 to -0.7762, P=0.0008), and the area size of pterygium (r=-0.6043 to -0.9508, P<0.05). For the DRL, the densityof DTMI, DMIR (deeper MIR), SR, IR, R, DC2 and DC3 decreased significantly in macular area of pterygium patients (P<.05). Furthermore, the vascular density in all those decreased regions was significantly and negatively correlated with the disease course (r=-0.6901 to -0.7795, P=0.0015), and the area size of pterygium(r=-0.6043 to -0.9563, P<0.05). No statistically significant differences and correlation was foundin other region density (|r|＜0.47, P>0.05). Conclusion OCTA findings suggested that pterygium patients present with decreased retinal MIR density, which was negatively correlated with the disease course and the area size of pterygium.

Purpose To investigate the retinal vascular network alterations in eyes of patients with pterygium. Method 18 left eyes from 18 female pterygium patients and 18 left eyes from 18 female healthy control subjects were enrolled. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) images were generated of the superficial retinal layer (SRL) and deeper retinal layer (DRL) of the macular retina for each eye. The microvascular (MIR) and macrovascular (MAR) densities were calculated and MIR, MAR, and total MIR (TMI) density was compared in the healthy control and pterygium groups. Results In pterygium group, in the SRL, the vascular density in SMIR (superficial MIR), SR, IR, R, SC1, SC2 and SC3 decreased significantly in the macular area (P<.05). Furthermore, the vascular density in all those decreased regions except R, was significantly and negatively correlated with the disease course ( r=-0.6038 to -0.7762, P=0.0008), and the area size of pterygium (r=-0.6043 to -0.9508, P<0.05). For the DRL, the density of DTMI, DMIR (deeper MIR), SR, IR, R, DC2 and DC3 decreased significantly in macular area of pterygium patients (P<.05). Furthermore, the vascular density in all those decreased regions was significantly and negatively correlated with the disease course (r=-0.6901 to -0.7795, P=0.0015), and the area size of pterygium (r=-0.6043 to -0.9563, P<0.05). No statistically significant differences and correlation was found in other region density (|r|＜0.47, P>0.05). Conclusion OCTA findings suggested that pterygium patients present with decreased retinal MIR density, which was negatively correlated with the disease course and the area size of pterygium.