What is an Eye Cancer?

Eye cancer can refer to any cancer that starts in the eye. Cancer starts when cells begin to grow out of control. (To learn about how cancers start and spread, see What Is Cancer?) The most common type of eye cancer is melanoma. But there are other types of cancer that affect different kinds of cells in the eye. Where eye cancers start The eye has 3 major parts:

• the eyeball (globe) that is mostly filled with a jelly-like material called vitreous humor and has 3 main layers (the sclera, the uvea, and the retina)
• the orbit (the tissues surrounding the eyeball)
• the adnexal (accessory) structures such as the eyelids and tear glands.

Cancers in the eye (intraocular cancers) Cancers that affect the eye itself are called intraocular (within the eye) cancers. Cancers that start in the eye are called primary intraocular cancers, and secondary intraocular cancers if they start somewhere else and spread to the eye. In adults, the most common primary intraocular cancers are: Melanoma (Intraocular melanoma is the focus of our information on eye cancer) Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (See Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) for more information on primary intraocular lymphoma.) In children, the most common primary intraocular cancers are: Retinoblastoma, a cancer that starts in cells in the retina (the light-sensing cells in the back of the eye) Medulloepithelioma (This is the second most common, but is still extremely rare.) These childhood cancers are discussed in Retinoblastoma. Secondary intraocular cancers (cancers that start somewhere else in the body and then spread to the eye) are not truly “eye cancers,” but they are actually more common than primary intraocular cancers. The most common cancers that spread to the eye are breast and lung cancers. Most often these cancers spread to the part of the eyeball called the uvea.

Intraocular melanoma (melanoma of the eye) Intraocular melanoma is the most common type of cancer that develops within the eyeball in adults, but it is still fairly rare. Melanomas that start in the skin are much more common than melanomas that start in the eye. Melanomas develop from pigment-making cells called melanocytes. When melanoma develops in the eye, it is usually in the uvea (uveal melanomas) and rarely in the conjunctiva (conjunctival melanomas).

Media Contact:
Sarah Rose
Journal Manager Journal of Eye Diseases and Disorders
Email: eyedisorders@emedsci.com
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