Conjunctival melanoma arising from diffuse primary acquired melanosis in a young black woman

To report a case of conjunctival melanoma arising from diffuse primary acquired melanosis (PAM) with atypia in a young black woman in the context of previously published cases of this lesion in blacks.

Retrospective case report with literature review. The number and percentage of conjunctival melanomas occurring in black patients were determined from case series in which race was specified, published from 1950 to the present.

Nodular multifocal conjunctival melanoma in a 30-year-old black woman was treated using surgical excision and adjuvant cryotherapy. Extensive PAM with severe atypia, including areas of microinvasive melanoma, was treated using topical mitomycin C. Literature review revealed 35 cases of conjunctival melanoma occurring in black patients. No previous reports of mitomycin C use in black patients with melanoma or PAM were identified.

Conjunctival melanoma is an exceedingly rare tumor in black patients. The current case brings the total of reported cases to 36. We successfully treated nodular melanoma and diffuse PAM in a young black woman using a combination of excision with cryotherapy and topical mitomycin C, suggesting that these lesions are amenable to the same types of therapy previously described for white patients.