Pterygium Pathology: A Prospective Case-Control Study on Tear Film Cytokine Levels

Figure 1

Overview of preoperative IL-6 (a), IL-8 (b), and VEGF (c) concentrations measured in the tear film of healthy controls (HC) and pterygium patients (). Each eye of one patient is regarded as a single entity and divided into one of the four remaining subcategories: patient’s unaffected eye or healthy control (PHC), pinguecula (Pi), primary pterygium (PPt), and recurrent pterygium (RPt). Overall, an increase in IL-6 (a), IL-8 (b), and VEGF (c) can be observed in both the RPt and PHC group, with a significantly higher secretion of VEGF (c) being noted between the HC and RPt group. Other significant differences can be found between the PPt and RPt group as well. This includes differences in tear film levels of IL-8 (b) and VEGF (c). The PHC and PPt group also show a dissimilar VEGF (c) concentration. Statistical significance was tested using a linear mixed effect model with 2 by 2 post hoc comparison of the subcategories: .

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