4th of February: World Cancer Day
Did you know that, malignant cancers can grow on the surface of the eye too? They start from the membrane that covers most of the eye called conjunctiva. The most common conjunctival cancers are squamous carcinoma, malignant melanoma and lymphoma.Unfortunately, most conjunctival tumors do not cause symptomsand the patients seek a specialist’s opinion when they notice a change of the color on the eye or extension of the tumor onto the cornea(at an advanced stage). It’s important to mention thatsmall tumors can be completely removed. Additional cryotherapy (freezing) improves local tumor destruction and prevents recurrence in squamous carcinoma or malignant melanoma.Moreover, there are several types of topical chemotherapy eye drops that can be very helpful in eradicating cancer of the conjunctiva and cornea.Chemotherapy is the treatment for systemic lymphoma and can usually cure malignant ocular lymphomas. If
the eye is the only place of malignant lymphoma, we may use low dose external beam radiation therapy.In order to avoid further expansion, early diagnosis and treatment of conjunctival tumors is very important.
Dr Michalis Palos
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Cornea and external eye disease
