Things You Should Know About Eye Cancer

Eye cancer refers to any cancer that starts in the eye, when healthy cells in your eye change, or mutate, and grow quickly in a disorganized way forming a mass of tissue called a tumor. As it starts in your eye, it’s called intraocular cancer, or primary eye cancer. When they spread to your eye from another part of your body, it’s called secondary eye cancer. Though melanoma is the most common type of eye cancer, there are other types of cancer that affect different kinds of cells in the eye.

Change in vision is the most common sign of eye cancer. An individual may not be able to see clearly, or might see flashes of light or spots. Apart from change in the shape and size of the eye, one also may notice a new dark spot in one eye. But these things can happen for many other reasons as eye cancer doesn’t always cause symptoms early on.

Major Parts of the Eye:

The eyeball that’s mostly filled with a jelly-like material called vitreous humor with three main layers including the sclera, the uvea and the retina; the orbit (tissues surrounding the eyeball) and the adnexal structures like the tear glands and the eyelids. Different types of cancer begin in each one of these areas.

Intraocular Cancers- Intraocular (within the eye) cancers are cancers that affect the eye itself. Primary intraocular cancers are cancers that start in the eye, if they start somewhere else and spread to the eye, they are called secondary intraocular cancers. The most common primary intraocular cancers in adults include Melanoma and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Retinoblastoma (cancer that starts in cells in the retina) and Medulloepithelioma (though it is the second-most common type but is extremely rare) are the most common primary intraocular cancers in children.

Secondary intraocular cancers are actually more common than primary intraocular cancers with the most common cancers that spread to the eye being breast and lung cancers. Often these cancers spread to the part of the eyeball called the uvea.

Intraocular Melanoma:

In adults, this is the most common type of cancer that develops within the eyeball, but it’s still fairly rare as melanomas that start in the skin are much more common than melanomas starting in the eye. It is usually in the uvea (uveal melanomas) that melanoma develops and rarely in the conjunctiva (conjunctival melanomas).

Uveal Melanoma- This is the most common kind of primary eye cancer that happens when cells form a tumor in a part of your eye called the uvea. It has three main parts: the colored part of your eye called the iris, the ciliary body (it makes fluid and helps you focus), and the choroid layer that supplies blood to your eye. Intraocular melanomas develop mostly in the choroid or ciliary body. Most of the other intraocular melanomas start in the iris which are the easiest for a person/doctor to see because they often start in a dark spot on the iris that has been present for many years and then begins to grow. Through the blood, uveal melanomas can spread and commonly spread to the liver.

Conjunctival Melanoma- Conjunctiva is the lining outside your eyeball and inside your eyelid. This is a rare type of cancer that happens when a tumor grows in the lining and looks like dark spots on your eye. If left undiagnosed or untreated, it can spread to other parts of your body through the lymphatic system.

Orbital and Adnexal Cancers:

The orbit comprises the tissues surrounding the eyeball which include muscles that move the eyeball in different directions and the nerves attached to the eye. Orbital cancers are cancers of these tissues. Cancers that develop in the adnexal structures including the eyelids and tear glands are called adnexal cancers.

It is from tissues such as muscle, nerve, and skin around the eyeball that cancers of the orbit and adnexa develop. They are like cancers in other parts of the body. For instance, cancers of the eyelid are usually skin cancers, see Rhabdomyosarcoma for cancer affecting the eye muscle.

Diagnosis:

Your eye doctor will ask about your symptoms and check the vision and the movement of your eyes. He may also use a magnifying lens to look for signs of a tumor in your eye. If he suspects eye cancer, he may use imaging scans like ultrasound or an MRI to get a closer look and a biopsy may also be recommended.

Treatment:

Surgery- Your doctor may just monitor it closely if the tumor is small and not growing fast and isn’t causing trouble. She may recommend surgery to take out part or all of the eye if the tumor gets larger than 10 millimeters around or 3 millimeters tall or starts to spread.

Laser Therapy- Transpupillary thermotherapy (TTT) is the most common kind of laser treatment that focuses a narrow, intense beam of infrared light on your eye to shrink a small tumor and usually causes fewer side effects than surgery or radiation. Laser therapy mainly is used to treat eye melanoma.

Radiation- Your doctor, after surgery may use high beams of energy to kill any cancer cells that may still be there which can damage healthy cells, too that can have a negative impact on your eyes.

If you are considering eye checkup, don’t look beyond the acclaimed Two Trees Optometry that consists of award-winning eye doctors in Ventura. Contact us on (805) 650.2020 to schedule your appointment today.