What Ocular Melanoma - Melanoma in the Eye?

Christine Wilson, cancer survivor, shares her experiences from the Abramson Cancer Center’s 2012 Focus On Melanoma Conference In this blog, she recaps the conference. You can view the conference in its entirety, including presentations here.

What is Ocular Melanoma?

There are 2500 new cases a year of ocular, or uveal melanomas. These rare tumors occur in the pigmented portions of the eye, which include the iris, and choroid and ciliary body, together called the uvea.

Ocular melanoma is more common in fair-skinned, blue-eyed people.

Ocular melanomas that affect the iris are very visible and are generally detected early. However, we can't see our own uvea. As a result, these tumors are often found during routine eye examinations or when a person notices a strange dark spot in their vision.

Ocular melanomas are slow growing tumors, and the goal of therapy is usually to treat them effectively while preserving vision. Primary treatment is a form or radiation therapy using a flap technique or protons. New information about the genetic mutations found in ocular melanomas has opened the doors to treating metastatic disease with the same targeted therapies used to treat other melanomas.