Intraocular and extraocular colobomatous cysts in adults

A 29-year-old woman had a colobomatous multiloculated cystic left eyeball. None of the normal structures of the globe were discernable by clinical examination. The cyst had been present since birth and had not grown in size since early childhood. Another patient, a man of 73, had an intraocular colobomatous cyst occupying the temporal half of the large choroidal bridge coloboma in his left eye. This cyst was partially filled with shimmering crystalline fluid. This patient had bilateral open-angle glaucoma which had caused advanced damage to the optic nerve in the structurally normal right eye. It is interesting that glaucoma did not affect the left eye with choroidal coloboma and intraocular colobomatous cyst, which had normal vision. The author thinks that ectatic sclera in the area of coloboma might have protected the eye from elevated intraocular pressure.