The Truth Behind Eye Melanoma
Wearing sunglasses isn’t just the best way to look famous and cool, but it’s also the best way to shield your eyes from things like ocular cancer. As the most common form of ocular cancer, eye melanoma affects the actual eyeball itself. To help you learn more about eye melanoma, we have created a brief, introductory guide. Read on to learn more.
How Is Eye Melanoma Caused?
Just like with most types of cancers, there isn’t one, definitive way in which ocular cancer develops. However, there are a few factors that can make you more susceptible, including:
- Light Skin: Those with fair skin are more likely to get eye melanoma
- Abnormal Moles: Although not as common, irregular shaped moles or freckles on the eyes can cause cancer.
- Light Eye Color: Individuals who have gray, green, or blue eyes are at a higher risk of developing eye melanoma than those with brown or black eyes.
- Overexposure to Light or Sun: The overexposure to both the sun and indoor lighting can increase your risk of developing eye melanoma.
What Are Symptoms?
It’s always important to be in tune with your body— especially your eyes. Common symptoms of eye melanoma include blurred vision, a lump on or around the eyelid, vision loss, shadows or flashes of light, inflammation, and pain.
How Is It Treated?
Depending on how severe your eye melanoma is, there are a variety of treatment options for you to pursue including radiation, surgery, or in the worst cases, the removal of the actual eye.
Eye melanoma is a rare form of cancer, but it is something to be aware of. By spotting the symptoms and getting frequent eye exams, eye melanoma can be detected early on. If you would like to learn more about eye melanoma, contact Papale Eye Center today to schedule an examination.