Malignant melanoma of the choroid associated with spontaneous expulsive choroidal hemorrhage

A 79-year-old man initially had a perforated corneal ulcer of his blind right eye. The next day a spontaneous expulsive choroidal hemorrhage occurred just before scheduled enucleation. Histopathologic examination of the enucleated eye revealed a severe necrosis of several posterior ciliary arteries in the expulsive choroidal hemorrhage, as well as a large occult spindle B malignant melanoma of the choroid. The necrosis of the posterior ciliary arteries may have been the cause of the choroidal hemorrhage. The finding of an occult malignant melanoma may be more than a chance occurrence of two unrelated events, inasmuch as both are associated with necrosis of the posterior ciliary arteries.