Pinguecula - have you had this eye condition?

[Mossie]

I went to the opticians today and they told me I have this condition.  They are not 100% sure what caused it - has anyone had this and did it go away in time?  Grateful for any advice.

[amarillis]

I haven't had it, but this link has some general information about the condition:

http://www.stlukeseye.com/Conditions/Pinguecula.asp

 

[kalise25]

That link says it all really. It's quite common in warmer countries than the UK, because people are more often exposed to UV light, more outdoor lifestyle etc. If you have dry, itchy, gritty eyes, this may be the cause.(The pinguecula becomes slightly raised and stops your tear film from spreading across the front of your eye evenly.)

It's rarely surgically treated because it does tend to grow back after a while. If cosmetically it bothers you a lot, or if it's gotten so large it's stopping you from closing your eye comfortably (extremely rare, don't want to panic you.....!) then you could ask your optometrist(optician) to refer you to the eye department to have it looked at by an ophthalmologist(eye specialist).

But normally, I wouldn't consider interfering with them and in fact would rarely make a point of telling a patient that they had one, unless they'd asked about the little yellow patch they'd noticed on their eye, or they were complaining of itchy dry eyes. 

Hope that helps.