Pterygium may not be a word you’re familiar with, but if you live anywhere with a lot of sun and surf (such as California), chances are that you’ve seen one (or even have one yourself. Maybe even two.) This fleshy growth on the front surface of the eye is a very common condition, albeit an unsightly one. Pterygia (the plural of pterygium) appear like a triangular whitish-yellowish overgrowth from the whites of the eye over the transparent cornea. In the very early stages of a pterygium, you may not even realize you have one developing. If that last statement has you peering closely into a mirror to find that you indeed have the beginnings of a pterygium, stay calm and keep reading.

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Sun, wind, surf, and… a pterygium. Depending on where you live in the world, the prevalence of pterygia sits anywhere between 1% of the population to over 30%. This fleshy wing-shaped overgrowth of tissue from the whites of the eye to the cornea (the transparent dome over the colored iris) is typically dismissed as a slightly unsightly cosmetic issue for most people. As it’s also nicknamed «surfer’s eye», you can imagine how it might relate to sun, wind, and surf. In some cases, a pterygium can progress so far over the cornea that it becomes more than a slightly unsightly cosmetic issue.
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