Intraocular Melanoma Program

Symptoms, Causes & Risk Factors

Symptoms of Intraocular Melanoma

Intraocular melanoma often has no symptoms. If intraocular melanoma has developed in a part of the eye that isn’t visible, then symptoms may not be noticed, but they do occur, they include:

• Blurred vision
• Blind spots
• Reduced field of vision
• Changes to the eye’s position in the socket
• Dark spot on the iris
• Eye pain
• A change in pupil shape or size
• Displaced eye lens (when melanoma is in the ciliary body)
• Double vision
• Retinal detachment (specific to melanoma in the choroid)
• Floaters or light flashes.

Some vision loss is common with intraocular melanoma, but the amount of vision loss depends on the size of the melanoma and how long you have had it. Long-term melanomas may cause complete vision loss.

Causes & Risk Factors of Intraocular Melanoma

Intraocular melanoma is caused by a mutated gene which causes melanocytes within the eye to grow and mutate, leading to tumors. You are at an increased risk of the disease if:

• You are white
• You have light colored eyes or skin
• You are over 70
• You have a family history of this type of cancer.

Diagnosis & Treatment

Diagnosis of Intraocular Melanoma 

Your doctors will first evaluate your symptoms and medical history if eye cancer is suspected. An eye exam will then be performed, during which your vision will be checked, and the inside of your eye – or its surrounding structures – are looked at closely. Your pupils may be dilated with special eye drops to help your doctor see the structures at the back of the eye. 

Other diagnostic tests may include: 

• Angiography: A test that looks for blocked or leaking blood vessels in the choroid. 
• Ultrasound: This measures the size of the structures within the eye and checks for tumors. 
• Imaging tests (CT, MRI): These are sometimes performed to diagnose orbital tumors.  

If cancer is detected, further diagnostic tests may be performed to stage the cancer.  

Treatment of Intraocular Melanoma

If a small intraocular melanoma is found, that isn’t impairing your vision, it is sometimes monitored before treatment is recommended. If treatment is needed, it will depend on the tumor’s location, size, and whether it has spread.  

• Radiation: Either internal or external, radiation involves using high doses of radiation to destroy the tumor.   
• Surgery: There are two main types of surgery for intraocular melanoma: 

• External resection: The tumor and surrounding healthy tissue are removed from outside in. 
• Enucleation: The eye and a part of optic nerve is removed.  

• Transpupillary thermal therapy (TTT): A laser uses heat to destroy the tumor. 
• Endoresection: The tumor is removed from inside the eye.