PROPARACAINE;

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of proparacaine 0.5% as a topical anesthetic in pterygium surgery. Study Design: Quasi-Experimental study. Place and Duration: Eye Unit-II, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur, from December 2010 to April 2011.Methodology: Thirty patients affected by primary pterygium underwent pterygium excision under topical anesthesia using proparacaine 0.5%eye drops. Pterygium excision was performed along with dissection of the degenerative conjunctival tissue, scraping of the corneal surface withsurgical blade No.15, meticulous dissection of the underlying Tenon's capsule, preparation of a free conjunctival graft from the superotemporalsector of healthy conjunctiva, and positioning of this graft to the area of bare sclera using 6/0 vicryl suture. Computer software SPSS (version10) was used to analyze the data. Results were considered statistically significant at p<0.05. Results: It was possible to perform all theprocedure under topical anesthesia using 0.5% Proparacaine eye drops without a need of supplemental subconjunctival or peribulbaranesthesia. Pain reported by the patients, recorded by a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) with 0-4 grades, and was mild to moderate during the entiresurgical procedure. Conclusions: Topical proparacaine 0.5% is a safe and effective anesthetic in pterygium surgery. The long lastinganesthesia with this agent permits performing the surgical procedure with low pain felt by the patients with a resultant low surgical invasivity anda short duration of surgery.