Pterygium Surgery Expectations
Pterygium removal surgery is performed under local anesthesia with minimal down-time. The procedure takes 20-30 minutes and most patients are able to return to work the next day. Pterygium removal is covered by most medical insurance carriers. If you'd like to see our work up close and view the terrific results we've experienced, take a look at Dr. Michel's before and after Pterygium removal photos above.
Eye Doctor's #1 Referral Choice for Pterygium Removal Surgery is Dr. Michel
Eye doctors from Los Angeles County, Ventura County, Santa Barbara County and literally around the world refer patients to Dr. Michel for pterygium removal. Dr. Michel also fixes recurrent Pterygium cases that grew back after previous surgery done elsewhere. If you are not happy with previous surgery done elsewhere, more than likely we can repair it.
Referring Doctor Comments After Observing Dr. Michel In Pterygium Surgery
The following observations are from a doctor that observed Dr. Michel in surgery:
"Today I watched two Pterygium surgeries performed by Dr. Franz Michel. It was amazing how something so simple as UV radiation (from the sun), continuous exposure to dry, dusty environments can cause the eye conjunctiva to thicken (like callus formation on the skin). Dr. Michel told me that Pterygium often occurs in Hispanic patients and those who are exposed to the environments mentioned above."
The difficult part about Pterygium is that it tends to grow back in 50% of the patients who choose Conjunctival Autograft with Stitches. Moreover, this type of Pterygium removal takes longer to heal and patients may experience more pain during the procedure. And because patients are not made aware of the reccurrence rates of performing Pterygium removal without doing a graft, they tend to go with the cheaper pterygium surgery. And, unfortunately, many patients who come into our office after this type of procedure come with regret for choosing the cheaper procedure. Although the non-graft Pterygium method is a more affordable surgery Dr. Michel's method, the recurrence rate for it is very, very high! What’s more, the recurrent Pterygia are much more aggressive and extremely difficult to treat. So what seems cheaper now is actually more expensive in the long run because of the likelihood of recurrence.
"So, the amazing thing I saw today was that not only does Dr. Michel's Pterygium removal surgery not need any stitches, but that his modern skin grafting technique only has a less than 1% rate of recurrence! It took only about half an hour for each Pterygium removal surgery and both the stay-at-home mom and gardener went back home happy and with little pain."
