Contents:
- Medical Video: A Woman's Journey: A Stage 4 Melanoma Mom
- How often does eye melanoma occur?
- Types of melanoma cancer in the eye
- What causes eye melanoma?
- What are the symptoms of cancer of the eye melanoma?
- Check that needs to be done
- Cancer treatment of eye melanoma
Medical Video: A Woman's Journey: A Stage 4 Melanoma Mom
Maybe most people know melanoma with skin cancer. Yes, melanoma is one type of cancer that attacks melanocytes, which is the color of the skin, hair, and eyes. Although generally found in the skin, this cancer can also attack the eye. According to the results of a study by Jovanovic, eye melanoma ranks second after skin melanoma. Then, what are the symptoms of eye melanoma to watch out for?
How often does eye melanoma occur?
Eye melanoma is the most common type of cancer that attacks adult eyes. This cancer is more common in men than women and on average is found in men over the age of 50 years.
Types of melanoma cancer in the eye
Melanoma cancer can actually attack various types of parts of the eye such as:
- Upper and lower eyelids
- Conjunctiva (eye mucous)
- Iris (eyeball color giver)
- Ciliary body (eyeball fluid forming)
- Koroid (middle layer of eyeball)
What causes eye melanoma?
Just like other cancers, this eye cancer melanoma is not known exactly what causes it. Even so, there are several things that can trigger or become a risk factor for this eye melanoma, namely:
- The eyes are always exposed to sunlight in the long run.
- Bright eye color, like blue or green.
- Have a mole on the eyes or skin around the eyes.
People who have the characteristics or experience this may have a higher risk of melanoma cancer than those who do not experience it at all. However, it does not mean that having these characteristics certainly makes the person affected by eye melanoma.
If you have these characteristics and feel doubtful about your current health condition, you should immediately consult a doctor.
What are the symptoms of cancer of the eye melanoma?
Most melanomas do not give symptoms at an early stage because they are located more frequently in the eyeball (iris, ciliary body, or choroid). But at a later stage, some symptoms will appear such as:
- Black spots in the iris area or in the enlarged conjunctival area
- Visual impairment
Check that needs to be done
There are various types of examinations that can be done to help confirm the diagnosis of melanoma in the eye.
- Funduscopy. examination of the inside of the eye by an ophthalmologist using a special instrument after eye drops are given before the eye to expand the pupil
- Ultrasound or MRI, performed to look for the spread of cancer to the area around the eyes.
- Fundus autofluoresens. a tool used to make retinal photographs and is one of the most useful tools for detecting melanoma.
- Examination of liver function, which is done to look for possible spread rather than cancer and liver cells is one of the most frequent sites for the spread of this type of eye cancer.
Cancer treatment of eye melanoma
Treatment is done depending on the location, size, and spread of cancer cells. Treatment can be in the form of removal from cancer, radiotherapy, removal of the eyeball, or a combination of all of these treatments.
As a type of cancer that rarely causes symptoms, routine eye examinations once a year are one of the best ways to detect melanoma at an early stage.
