Melanocytoma of the ciliary body

A 57-year-old Caucasian woman was found, on a routine ophthalmoscopic examination, to have a pigmented ciliary body mass suggestive of a malignant melanoma. The eye was enucleated primarily because a radioactive phosphorus test yielded a 79% greater uptake over the lesion than over a control area-a result regarded as positive at that time. Histopathologically, the lesion proved to be a benign melanocytoma of the ciliary body. Electron microscopy clearly revealed a large complement of inflammatory cells (macrophages) within the tumor. This case reemphasizes the advisability of carefully documenting tumor growth before enucleating eyes harboring pigmented lesions.