Pterygium is a pathological lesion of bulbar conjunctiva extending to the center of the cornea. There are a lot of agents that have been accused in etiology of pterygium, such as chemical and physical factors, human papilloma virus infection and p53 gene mutation. Human papilloma virus in pterygium was firstly demonstrated by Varinli et al in 1994. Researchers thought that human papilloma virus infection caused p53 gene mutation in the epithelium of conjunctiva and this damage led to uncontrolled cell proliferation which formed pterygium.

In this study, p53 mutation and the presence of the human papilloma virus infection in primary and recurrent pterygium were investigated. The p53 tumor suppressor gene mutation was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry, and presence of HPV infection, while HPV-16 and HPV-18 were investigated by polymerase chain reaction method.

The p53 tumor suppressor gene mutation was found in 64 (88.8%) of the samples (58 primary, and 6 recurrent pterygium). Human papilloma virus was found in 26 primary, and 2 recurrent pterygium cases (38.9%). Four human papilloma virus positive samples out of 28 were determined as HPV-18, and 8 as HPV-16.

Consequently, it has been assumed that HPV and p53 gene mutation play important roles in the etiopathogenesis of pterygium. Patients should be carefully followed-up for recurrences and developing malignancies secondary to human papilloma virus infection.