A prospective study was carried out to assess the recurrence rate of pterygium with conjunctival autograft versus the use of topical mitomycin C. In 27 eyes undergoing pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft, the recurrence rate was found to be 25.9% after 1 year mean follow-up. In the second group of 32 eyes, pterygium was removed using the bare sclera method. All these patients received post-operatively 0.2 mg/ml (0.02%) topical mitomycin C twice a day for 5 days. At 1 year mean follow-up, the recurrence rate in this group was 9.4%. Although the difference was not statistically significant, the number of recurrences was lower in the mitomycin-C-treated group than in patients undergoing conjunctival autograft.