Malignant melanoma of the eyelid and conjunctiva

Four patients with malignant melanoma of the eyelid skin and 14 patients with conjunctival malignant melanoma are presented. Surgery was recommended for eyelid lesions and local excision followed by cryotherapy for conjunctival lesions. One patient with an eyelid skin malignant melanoma died and two patients with extensive malignant melanoma of the conjunctiva died. Nodular lesions involving the lid margin have the worst prognosis of eyelid skin malignant melanomas, and the greater the extent of conjunctival involvement the worse the prognosis for conjunctival malignant melanomas. The complications of cryotherapy are minor, but the follow-up period in this series is too short to comment on survival times.