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Background Pterygium is an important public health problem. The prevalence rates of this disease varies widely from 1.2% to 23.4%. Aim To determine the prevalence rates and the associated risk factors of pterygium in the high-altitude area - Ta'if city, Saudi Arabia. Material and method A cross-sectional study was carried out from September 2018 till September 2019 at the ophthalmology outpatient clinics of King Abdul-Aziz Specialist Hospital, Ta'if area. Results Prevalence rate of pterygium in the high-altitude area, Ta'if city, Saudi Arabia was 2.4%. It is significantly higher in older patients belonging to the age group of more than 40 years. As for gender, it was significantly higher in male patients compared to females (2.6% vs. 1.9%). Pterygium prevalence was significantly higher among patients with outdoor occupations compared to indoor occupations (2.9% vs. 2.1%), and among patients with sunlight exposure during daily activities for more than 5 hours (2.6% vs. 2%) (p =< 0.05). Conclusion The overall incidence of pterygium in Al-Ta'if area, Saudi Arabia, was 2.4% but still lower than overall worldwide incidence (10.2%). There was an increased incidence of pterygium with age, high-altitude areas, rural areas, outdoor occupations, which is directly proportional to dose of sunlight exposure. Furthermore, smoking might be reported as a protective factor against pterygium.

Background: Saudi studies conducted among the general population revealed insufficient knowledge regarding eye problems, including cataract. This study aimed to assess the knowledge of medical students about cataract. Methodology: A cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaires about cataract was conducted among 500 medical students of Taif University during the academic year 2018–2019. Results: Almost 82% of the sample heard about cataract, 69% of the participants reported more than one correct answer about risk factors, 76% reported that aging was a risk factor of cataract, 70% said that cataract could cause blindness, while 82% replied that the surgical intervention was the recommended treatment of cataract. Only 17% of them reported the right answer to the causes of blindness in cataract. For most of these questions, the students in clinical years showed a highly significant difference in responding to the correct answers when compared to students in basic years. Conclusion: Students from Taif University possess a good knowledge regarding cataract, but the deficient knowledge regarding some clinical aspects related to cataract calls for a curriculum reform of ophthalmology for sufficient training of medical students on clinical aspects related to cataract.