Question

46 year-old female presents with a headache. The following is seen on visual inspection of the eye. What's the diagnosis?

Answer

Pterygium

• Benign wedge-shaped fibrovascular proliferation extending from sclera to nasal portion of cornea
• Sometimes confused with pinguecula (both are benign)
• Symptoms range from none, to eye irrigation/redness, to visual impairment (if crosses visual field)
• Risk factors (UV-light exposure, male gender, and genetic predisposition)
• Treatment
  • Supportive (artificial tears or short-course topical steroids)
  • Surgical excision, if:
    • discomfort
    • crosses visual-field
    • cosmetic reasons
• Prevent by blocking UV light from eyes (e.g., sunglasses)

Six-word Summary: Cornea, benign, UV, supportive, surgery, and sunglasses  

 

Bonus Pearl

As a new academic year begins, I will be sharing some amazing free educational online resources/links. These free materials are known as Free Open Access Meducation (or FOAMed) and for those familiar with FOAMed this is an emerging educational revolution. If you don't know what FOAMed is, read about it here and then read this. Updates will happen every Monday and will be known as #FOAM4yourDome  

References

Follow me on Twitter (@criticalcarenow) or Google+ (+criticalcarenow)