To investigate the clinical features, surgical treatments, and their outcomes in conjunctival squamous papilloma.

A retrospective chart review was conducted on 31 patients with 32 eyes that were treated for conjunctival papilloma from October 2000 to February 2015 in Seoul National University Hospital and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital.

Among the 31 patients, 9 patients had papilloma which recurred after previous surgical excision at another hospital. Twenty-five eyes had one papilloma lesion, 2 eyes had 2 lesions, and 5 eyes had more than 3 lesions. The most affected location of papilloma was the tarsal conjunctiva. The recurrent group displayed a tendency to have multiple lesions. Surgical excision without any adjuvant therapy was performed in 13 eyes; surgical excision and cryotherapy in 15 eyes; surgical excision, cryotherapy, and topical interferon alfa-2b in 3 eyes; and surgical excision and amniotic membrane transplantation in 1 eye. The mean postoperative follow up period was 11.1 months. There were 5 cases of recurrence and the mean time of recurrence after surgical excision was 4.22 months (range, 3 days to 9 months). Among 5 cases of recurrence, 3 cases were after surgical excision only, 1 case was after surgical excision and cryotherapy, and 1 case was after surgical excision, cryotherapy, and topical interferon alfa-2b. These 5 recurred cases were retreated with surgical excision and cryotherapy, surgical excision and topical interferon alfa-2b, or surgical excision, cryotherapy, and topical interferon alfa-2b.

Conjunctival squamous papilloma is likely to recur even though the tumor is completely removed. Therefore, long-term postoperative follow up may be necessary for recurrence.