IL18 and pterygium: Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate that local MMC injection at a low dose can not only inhibit the activation of the NLRP3/Caspase-1 pathway and the expression of IL-18 and IL-1β but also downregulate the expression of TGF-β1, VEGF, and IL-6, thus inhibiting fibroblast proliferation and neovascularization to effectively reduce the recurrence rate of pterygium.