The aim of this study is to evaluate the results of surgical removal of pterygium on 122 patients, that was performed by different surgeons during 17 years in the University Eye Clinic in Ferrara. The techniques they adopted were the inversion and the excision procedures. During a period of follow-up ranging from at least 4 months to 16 years and 9 months, the authors observed a high percentage of recurrences following both excision (58%) and inversion (62%) respectively, and no statistically significant difference was detected between the 2 techniques. Moreover, the incidence of relapses is even higher (88%), when considering recurrent pterygium. On this basis, the authors suggest that surgical removal of pterygium with 'bare sclera' followed by postoperative β-irradiation or medical treatment with mitomycin-C or 5-fluorouracil may be a more effective therapy.