A gene signature consisting of 11 DEGs were found to be shared by pterygium and MGD (SPRR3, SERPINB13, NMU, KRT10, IL37, KRT6B, PI3, S100A2, MAL, AURKA, and RGCC), and bioinformatics analyses showed that these overlapped DEGs were significantly enriched in pathways related to keratinization, cell-cycle regulation, and formation of the cornified envelope.