TP53 and pterygium: Moreover, the aforedescribed findings regarding the effects of COX 2 in cutaneous tumor formation have also been reported in pterygium, including disruption of apoptosis [3,18], limbal epithelial proliferation [19], abnormal p53 gene expression [1-5], and upregulation of basic fibroblast growth factor [20], vascular endothelial growth factor, and nitric oxide synthases [21].