Iris melanoma: a case report and review

Iris melanoma is a rare ocular tumour, which can be detected early in its development. This tumour is almost always unilateral and arises usually from a pre-existing naevus. Failure to detect it may be associated with morbid ocular and systemic complications, yet there are successful therapies to treat this condition, if detected early. The patient presented to the eye clinic with symptoms of occasional, brief loss of vision in his left eye for a few weeks prior to his visit. Slit-lamp examination revealed a mass on the inferior part of the iris of the left eye. Intra-ocular pressure measurements were RE 15 mmHg and LE 38 mmHg. It was found that a tumour had spread throughout the iris stroma and invaded the anterior chamber angle. Although enucleation would have been the treatment of choice in the past, the trend today in the treatment of a growing, large circumscribed iris tumour is to excise it. It was successfully excised by irido-cyclo-trabeculectomy.