Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsCancerous TumorsNon-Cancerous TumorsTumor SymptomsCausesRisk FactorsDiagnosisTreatment
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Cancerous Tumors
Non-Cancerous Tumors
Tumor Symptoms
Causes
Risk Factors
Diagnosis
Treatment
Eye tumors are also calledoculartumors. An eye tumor can becancerousor noncancerous. About 3,490 new eye cancers are estimated to be diagnosed in 2023.
Symptoms of eye tumors can include vision changes, pain, and changes in the shape and movement of the eye.
This article will go over the different types of eye tumors. It will also discuss eye tumor symptoms, how eye tumors are diagnosed, and the various options for treating them.
This photo contains content that some people may find graphic or disturbing.See PhotoDermNet /CC BY-NC-ND
This photo contains content that some people may find graphic or disturbing.See Photo
This photo contains content that some people may find graphic or disturbing.
DermNet /CC BY-NC-ND
Cancerous Eye Tumors
There are several types of cancers that can affect the eyes. Orbital cancers affect the tissues around the eyeball. Themusclesthat move the eyeball and the nerves attached to the eyeball can also be affected.
Cancer can also form in the eyelids and tear glands. Cancers that affect these structures are calledadnexalcancers.
Primary Eye Tumors
Primary eye tumors are rare. In adults, the most common type isocular melanoma.This tumor is also calleduvealmelanomaorchoroidalmelanoma.
Malignant melanomas usually form fromsimple moles. That’s why it’s important to check moles often for changes. If you have a mole in or near your eye, have it examined regularly.
Ocular melanomas form from cells in the eye that give them color. These are called pigmented cells. This type of tumor happens in the three main parts of the eye:
Less common types of primary eye tumors include:
Rare cancers of the eye include:
Secondary Eye Tumors
The most common type of cancerous eye tumor ismetastatic, or secondary. This means the cancer originated in another area of the body and spread to the eye.
Secondary eye tumors are most often found in the choroid. In women, they most commonly originate as breast cancer.
In males, lung cancer is the most common cause.Other types of cancer that can lead to secondary eye tumors include kidney, thyroid, prostate, and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract.
What’s Causing Pain in the Corner of Your Eye?
Non-Cancerous Eye Tumors
If you’ve been diagnosed with an eye tumor, cancer may be your first concern. Not all eye tumors are cancerous, however.
Choroidal hemangiomais the most common type of noncancerous eye tumor. These tumors are made up of blood vessels.They can cause eye redness orvision changes. Benign tumors can also grow in the skin around the eye or on the eyelid. Benign eye tumors may also show up on the conjunctiva.
Benign, pigmented lesions can grow on the inner part of the eye. These are calledchoroidal nevi. Because they grow inside the eye, they can usually only be seen using special equipment.
A spot on the eye that looks like afrecklecould be congenital hypertrophy of the retinal pigment epithelial layer (CHRPE). These growths are a bunch of pigmented cells that look dark. Most are benign.
Having one or two CHRPE lesions is usually not concerning. However, having multiple CHRPE lesions has been linked to a genetic condition called familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP).
How Serious Are Eye Tumors?The prognosis for eye cancer depends on the location of the tumor, the type of cancer, and whether it is confined to the eye or has spread to surrounding tissues or distant organs. The overall five-year relative survival rate for all types and stages of eye cancer is 81%.This means that people with eye cancer are, on average, 81% as likely as people who don’t have this cancer to live for at least five years after being diagnosed.
How Serious Are Eye Tumors?
The prognosis for eye cancer depends on the location of the tumor, the type of cancer, and whether it is confined to the eye or has spread to surrounding tissues or distant organs. The overall five-year relative survival rate for all types and stages of eye cancer is 81%.This means that people with eye cancer are, on average, 81% as likely as people who don’t have this cancer to live for at least five years after being diagnosed.
Benign vs. Malignant Tumors
Eye Tumor Symptoms
Like skinmoles, eye moles form when certain cells grow together in a group. At first, you may see an abnormal brown spot on or in your eye. This is called a nevus. These moles usually form on the choroid, iris, or conjunctiva of the eye.
An eye tumor may look like a dark spot on the colored part of your eye called the iris. If you notice a spot in your eye, tell your healthcare provider.
What Causes Eye Floaters?
Eye tumors don’t always have symptoms. When they do, symptoms can include:
Eye melanomas are often found during routine exams.That’s why having regular eye exams is important. If your healthcare provider thinks you are at higherrisk for eye melanoma, they might recommend that you have an eye exam every year.
Detecting cancer early means you’ll have more treatment options. That said, not all cancers of the eye can be found early.
What Causes Eye Tumors?
Eye tumors can have different causes. The causes of eye tumors that are not cancerous are different from those that are.
Benign Eye Tumors
Benign eye tumors can have a number of causes:
Malignant Eye Tumors
Cancer happens when there arechanges to DNAinside cells. These changes are called mutations. The DNA in a cell has a set of instructions that tell the cell what functions to perform. It also tells it how to grow and divide. If there are errors in the instructions, the cell may not function right. When this happens, the cell can become cancerous.
Several factors contribute togenetic mutations. These include inherited gene mutations and gene mutations that happen after birth. You might be born with a genetic mutation. Some mutations are passed down through families. This is calledinheritance. An inherited mutation only causes a small number of eyecancers.
Most gene mutations occur after you’re born. Many things can cause gene mutations, such as:
Eye Cancer Risk Factors
Certain factors can put you at greater risk for developing eye cancer. Some of these risk factors, like your age and family history, are things you can’t control. Other risk factors can be reduced, like exposure to ultraviolet rays.
Age and Race
Primary intraocular melanoma usually happens to peopleover the age of 50. The average age that a person is diagnosed is 55. This type of eye cancer is rare in children and people older than 70.
Medical History
Basal cell carcinoma,squamous carcinoma, sebaceous carcinoma, andmalignant melanomaare all types of eyelid cancers. There are several factors that make a person more likely to get intraocular melanoma, including:
Family History
Intraocular melanoma can run in families. It usually happens because of a gene mutation.
If caught early, these childhood eye tumors may be curable. In fact, nine out of 10 children with retinoblastoma will be cancer free five years after treatment.
If you have risk factors associated with cancer of the eye, you should see a doctor who is an expert in eye health (ophthalmologist) every year for an exam. Also, tell them if you ever see an unusual mole or skin growth around your eye.
Ultraviolet Rays
What Happens During an Eye Exam?
If the growth is on your skin, you might also work with a healthcare provider who is a skin health expert (dermatologist).
If your provider is concerned about a growth near your eye, they might cut a small piece off to send to a lab to be looked at more closely. This is calledexcision.
An expert called apathologistcan look at the sample of your skin and tell if it has cancer. They will send a report to your provider explaining what they find.
Eye care providerscan also take a digital picture of the growth in your eye. This allows them to watch it closely to see if it changes over time.
What Is the Difference Between an Optometrist and an Ophthalmologist?
Sometimes, eye care providers will do an ultrasound of the tumor. This can help them tell certain things about the growth, like how solid it is. This information can help them tell whether a growth might be cancer or not.
Benign growths inside the eye usually have easy-to-see edges called margins. They are typically flat or slightly raised. Malignant growths tend to have irregular shapes and color changes. They may also havefluidon top of them.
Your healthcare provider can use differenttests and toolsto check you for eye cancer:
If it is suspected that eye cancer is a secondary cancer, tests will be done to locate the source of the original tumor site (such as the lungs).
What Is an Eye Exam?
The treatment for an eye tumor will depend on whether it is cancerous or not.
Benign growths that are on the outside of the eye can be taken off surgically. Some can be removed with chemicals or burning (calledcauterization).
If freckles and growths inside the eye are benign, they are usually left alone. However, you will need to have them examined every six to 12 months to make sure they don’t change.
Eye Cancer
The goal of treating eye cancer is to make it less likely to spread. It’s also important to maintain your vision, if possible.
The treatment options for eye cancer depend on several factors, including the type and stage of cancer, the possible side effects, and your overall health.
The way eye cancer is treated will depend on the tumor and whether cancer has spread to other areas of the body. Here are a few things that might be part of a treatment plan for eye cancer:
Summary
Growths in or near the eye are not always cancer. If the growth is benign, your healthcare provider might remove it. They might also leave it alone and just check it regularly to make sure it doesn’t change.
If you are diagnosed with eye cancer, you will have different treatment options, including chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapies. Your oncology team will make every effort to preserve your vision.
Why You Should Get a Routine Eye Exam
18 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Cancer Society.Key statistics for eye cancer.Domingo RE, Manganip LE, Castro RM.Tumors of the eye and ocular adnexa at the Philippine Eye Research Institute: a 10-year review.Clin Ophthalmol. 2015;9:1239–1247. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S87308American Cancer Society.If you have eye cancer.National Organization for Rare Disorders.Ocular melanoma.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Eye tumors.American Cancer Society.What is ocular melanoma?Lampaki S, Kioumis I, Pitsiou G, et al.Lung cancer and eye metastases.Med Hypothesis Discov Innov Ophthalmol. 2014;3(2):40-4American Academy of Ophthalmology.What is hemangioma?Ramteke P, Shah S.Congenital hypertrophy of retinal pigment epithelium (CHRPE) with typical ‘bear track’ presentation.J Ophthalmol Rel Sci. 2019;3(1):10-1.American Cancer Society.Eye cancer survival rates.Canadian Cancer Society.Symptoms of eye cancer.Jovanovic P, Mihajlovic M, Djordjevic-Jocic J, Vlajkovic S, Cekic S, Stefanovic V.Ocular melanoma: an overview of the current status.Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2013;6(7):1230–1244.Canadian Cancer Society.Risk factors for eye cancer.American Cancer Society.What is retinoblastoma?Wang YZ, Zhang Y, Huang DS, et al.Clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of children with unilateral retinoblastoma and intracranial segment of retrobulbar optic nerve invasion.BMC Ophthalmol.2021;21(1):38. doi:10.1186/s12886-020-01768-4Kaliki S, Shields CL.Uveal melanoma: relatively rare but deadly cancer.Eye. 2017;31(2):241-57. doi:10.1038/eye.2016.275Honavar SG, Manjandavida FP.Tumors of the ocular surface: A review.Indian J Ophthalmol. 2015;63(3):187-203. doi:10.4103/0301-4738.156912Canadian Cancer Society.Treatments for eye cancer.
18 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Cancer Society.Key statistics for eye cancer.Domingo RE, Manganip LE, Castro RM.Tumors of the eye and ocular adnexa at the Philippine Eye Research Institute: a 10-year review.Clin Ophthalmol. 2015;9:1239–1247. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S87308American Cancer Society.If you have eye cancer.National Organization for Rare Disorders.Ocular melanoma.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Eye tumors.American Cancer Society.What is ocular melanoma?Lampaki S, Kioumis I, Pitsiou G, et al.Lung cancer and eye metastases.Med Hypothesis Discov Innov Ophthalmol. 2014;3(2):40-4American Academy of Ophthalmology.What is hemangioma?Ramteke P, Shah S.Congenital hypertrophy of retinal pigment epithelium (CHRPE) with typical ‘bear track’ presentation.J Ophthalmol Rel Sci. 2019;3(1):10-1.American Cancer Society.Eye cancer survival rates.Canadian Cancer Society.Symptoms of eye cancer.Jovanovic P, Mihajlovic M, Djordjevic-Jocic J, Vlajkovic S, Cekic S, Stefanovic V.Ocular melanoma: an overview of the current status.Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2013;6(7):1230–1244.Canadian Cancer Society.Risk factors for eye cancer.American Cancer Society.What is retinoblastoma?Wang YZ, Zhang Y, Huang DS, et al.Clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of children with unilateral retinoblastoma and intracranial segment of retrobulbar optic nerve invasion.BMC Ophthalmol.2021;21(1):38. doi:10.1186/s12886-020-01768-4Kaliki S, Shields CL.Uveal melanoma: relatively rare but deadly cancer.Eye. 2017;31(2):241-57. doi:10.1038/eye.2016.275Honavar SG, Manjandavida FP.Tumors of the ocular surface: A review.Indian J Ophthalmol. 2015;63(3):187-203. doi:10.4103/0301-4738.156912Canadian Cancer Society.Treatments for eye cancer.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Cancer Society.Key statistics for eye cancer.Domingo RE, Manganip LE, Castro RM.Tumors of the eye and ocular adnexa at the Philippine Eye Research Institute: a 10-year review.Clin Ophthalmol. 2015;9:1239–1247. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S87308American Cancer Society.If you have eye cancer.National Organization for Rare Disorders.Ocular melanoma.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Eye tumors.American Cancer Society.What is ocular melanoma?Lampaki S, Kioumis I, Pitsiou G, et al.Lung cancer and eye metastases.Med Hypothesis Discov Innov Ophthalmol. 2014;3(2):40-4American Academy of Ophthalmology.What is hemangioma?Ramteke P, Shah S.Congenital hypertrophy of retinal pigment epithelium (CHRPE) with typical ‘bear track’ presentation.J Ophthalmol Rel Sci. 2019;3(1):10-1.American Cancer Society.Eye cancer survival rates.Canadian Cancer Society.Symptoms of eye cancer.Jovanovic P, Mihajlovic M, Djordjevic-Jocic J, Vlajkovic S, Cekic S, Stefanovic V.Ocular melanoma: an overview of the current status.Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2013;6(7):1230–1244.Canadian Cancer Society.Risk factors for eye cancer.American Cancer Society.What is retinoblastoma?Wang YZ, Zhang Y, Huang DS, et al.Clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of children with unilateral retinoblastoma and intracranial segment of retrobulbar optic nerve invasion.BMC Ophthalmol.2021;21(1):38. doi:10.1186/s12886-020-01768-4Kaliki S, Shields CL.Uveal melanoma: relatively rare but deadly cancer.Eye. 2017;31(2):241-57. doi:10.1038/eye.2016.275Honavar SG, Manjandavida FP.Tumors of the ocular surface: A review.Indian J Ophthalmol. 2015;63(3):187-203. doi:10.4103/0301-4738.156912Canadian Cancer Society.Treatments for eye cancer.
American Cancer Society.Key statistics for eye cancer.
Domingo RE, Manganip LE, Castro RM.Tumors of the eye and ocular adnexa at the Philippine Eye Research Institute: a 10-year review.Clin Ophthalmol. 2015;9:1239–1247. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S87308
American Cancer Society.If you have eye cancer.
National Organization for Rare Disorders.Ocular melanoma.
Johns Hopkins Medicine.Eye tumors.
American Cancer Society.What is ocular melanoma?
Lampaki S, Kioumis I, Pitsiou G, et al.Lung cancer and eye metastases.Med Hypothesis Discov Innov Ophthalmol. 2014;3(2):40-4
American Academy of Ophthalmology.What is hemangioma?
Ramteke P, Shah S.Congenital hypertrophy of retinal pigment epithelium (CHRPE) with typical ‘bear track’ presentation.J Ophthalmol Rel Sci. 2019;3(1):10-1.
American Cancer Society.Eye cancer survival rates.
Canadian Cancer Society.Symptoms of eye cancer.
Jovanovic P, Mihajlovic M, Djordjevic-Jocic J, Vlajkovic S, Cekic S, Stefanovic V.Ocular melanoma: an overview of the current status.Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2013;6(7):1230–1244.
Canadian Cancer Society.Risk factors for eye cancer.
American Cancer Society.What is retinoblastoma?
Wang YZ, Zhang Y, Huang DS, et al.Clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of children with unilateral retinoblastoma and intracranial segment of retrobulbar optic nerve invasion.BMC Ophthalmol.2021;21(1):38. doi:10.1186/s12886-020-01768-4
Kaliki S, Shields CL.Uveal melanoma: relatively rare but deadly cancer.Eye. 2017;31(2):241-57. doi:10.1038/eye.2016.275
Honavar SG, Manjandavida FP.Tumors of the ocular surface: A review.Indian J Ophthalmol. 2015;63(3):187-203. doi:10.4103/0301-4738.156912
Canadian Cancer Society.Treatments for eye cancer.
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