Surgical margins and outcomes for eyelid melanoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

No randomized trials exist to inform the peripheral surgical margins or depth of wide excision for eyelid melanoma. We performed a meta-analysis examining surgical margins and Breslow depth for eyelid melanomas. A systematic review was performed in August 2022 using PubMed, Cochrane, and Medline databases (1/1/1990 to 8/1/2022). Inclusion criteria included studies reporting surgical treatment of primary cutaneous melanomas of the eyelid with reported surgical margins. Ten articles were included. The studies were examined by surgical margin size (group 1: ≤ 0.5 cm; group 2 > 0.5 cm and ≤ 1.5 cm) and Breslow depth (group 1: ≤ 1 mm; group 2: > 1 mm). The odds ratio (OR) for local recurrence was 2.55 [95% CI 0.36-18.12], p = 0.18; regional metastasis was 0.70 [95% CI 0.00-23671.71], p = 0.48; and distant metastasis was 2.47 [95% CI 0.00-1687.43], p = 0.66. When examining by Breslow depth, the OR for local recurrence was 0.53 [95% CI 0.14-1.94], p = 0.34; regional metastasis was 0.14 [0.00-176.12], p = 0.54; and the OR for distant metastasis was 0.24 [95% CI 0.01-8.73], p = 0.46. There was a trend toward higher likelihood of recurrence and metastasis in the ≤ 0.5 cm group. Similarly, there is a trend toward higher likelihood of recurrence and metastasis with Breslow depth > 1 mm. A surgical margin of at least 0.5 cm and achievement of negative margins via permanent sections or MMS are likely needed to prevent adverse outcomes. En face sectioning may be a superior method of histological processing for eyelid melanoma.