Geographical Variation of Conjuctival Limbal Lesions

Abstract

Conjunctival limbus presents with variety of lesions. The presentation can vary from tropical to temperate climates, ethnic origin or racial differences. The variation seen in same climatic condition is compared and highlighted in our study, along with the variation seen in different regions as well. The cases ranged from most commonpterygium, to most rare-primary conjunctival myxoma. OBJECTIVES: To study regional differences in conjunctival limbal leisions & to look for most common & most rare limbal leisions. MATERIALS AND METHODS:We did a comparative study & analysed all the conjunctival limbal lesions both clinically & histopathologically in all patients attending ophthalmic OPD at Vydehi institute of medical sciences & Sapthagiri institute of medical sciences, Bangalore. A total of 370 cases of both sex, aged between 5yrs to 78 yrs were analysed from January 2006 to January 2015. A thorough clinical examination was done in all cases. The diagnosis is established clinically & was confirmed by histopathology in all cases. The cases were analysed and ranged from most common pterygium to most rare primary conjunctival myxoma. An effort is also made to study the incidence of disease pattern & its variation with reference to different geographical area. CONCLUSION:To conclude from our study, Even though the climatic condition is same in the studies compared, there seems to be relatively gross difference in incidence of disease pattern with reference to common leision & rare variety. The disease pattern in western whites was not comparable with other studies, including the present study This shows presentation can vary from tropical to temperate climates, ethnic origin or racial differences. Pterygium is the most common conjunctival limbal leision seen in south Indian continent. Primary conjunctival mxoma is rare benign tumour of conjunctiva at limbus.