Definition:
Melanoma that originates in your eye is termed a primary eye cancer. Eye melanoma is the most common type of primary eye cancer in adults, but it's rare. If the melanoma begins elsewhere and then spreads to your eye, it's called a secondary eye cancer; this also is rare.
Diagnosis:
Regular examination of the eyes with the ophthalmologist is important for the early detection and diagnosis of eye melanoma. Doctors usually examine the eye and look for enlarged blood vessels that can indicate a tumor inside the eye. A method called ophthalmoscopy uses lenses and a bright light mounted in the doctor's forehead is one of the commonly used. Another is called the slit-lamp biomicroscopy, uses a microscope that produces and intense beam or line of light to illuminate the interior of the eye. To further evaluate a suspected melanoma, various methods are performed including ultrasound and angiography.
Treatment:
The main factors considered when treating melanoma are the location and size of the melanoma. Also considered is the patient's overall health.
Eye melanoma is very rare that it is suggested to seek the advice of an experienced doctor or to seek a second opinion. The treatments designed to get rid of a melanoma will often cause some loss of vision. Eye cancers are fatal and in some cases, treatment is needed even if it means loss of vision or loss of the eye.
Depending on the size and the location, surgery can be the only treatment needed to remove the melanoma. Other cases may be treated using radiation therapy or radiation combined with infrared laser therapy.
Symptoms and Signs:
You may experience no symptoms at all for melanoma of the eye. On the other hand, eye melanomas may cause light flashes, blurring or a dark spot in your vision.
Affected individuals should watch out for a change in the color of the iris, a growing dark spot on the iris, a sensation of flashing lights, a poor or blurry vision in one eye, loss of side vision in the affected eye, floaters, and a red and painful eye.
Causes:
There is no known exact cause for eye melanoma. It is however, typically not inherited but along the years studies revealed that DNA plays a role in causing cells to become cancerous. Defects or changes in the DNA can cause genes to malfunction but as to how said changes cause the development of cancer, remains not understood.
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