An upper eyelid cyst from migration of a hard corneal contact lens

A migrated polymethylmethacrylate contact lens in the upper eyelid presented as a mass of unknown etiology. The lens had been unknowingly retained in the eyelid for seven years, after it had migrated through the conjunctiva of the superior fornix, and then moved in front of the levator aponeurosis and upper tarsal plate, where it lay encysted by conjunctiva. We believe that having sequestered conjunctival epithelium around the lens explains the minimal nature of the inflammatory and secretory responses necessary to allow such a protracted period of retention.