My pterygium sprouted at 24. I had a horrible diet drank way too much and was dabbling in some recreational drugs that would make it worse. Also I lived in AZ. Now that I am older smarter and healthier its not inflamed like it used to be. But drinking, not hydrating and eating packaged food/fast food/inorganic will cause redness and irritation. I have tried christophers eye wash and all of the otc drops. The only one that has worked for irritation is Eyebright Drops - Wisdom of the Ages it has msm, eyebright and apple cider vinegar. Its 17 an oz on amazon and i go through a lot so I just added apple cider vinegar and DMSO to my 4 oz bottle of liquid MSM drops, which are really for ingestion but lots of people use in their eyes and thier dogs, and it does about the same for a fraction of the cost. Some people are saying acv is shrinking the pterygium but I have not seen pics. Mine looks smaller when its not inflamed and the ACV helps with that a lot. I am finally in a financial place to go thru with the surgery. I was quoted 1500 in AZ 8 years ago and now 6000 in the bay area now! I am always looking and trying a holistic approach.