A Swedish woman had to get her entire eye removed after complaints of a foreign body in her left eye turned out to be a rare type of skin cancer.
Eye-watering photos show an unsightly lump in her eyelid which turned out to be the disease.
The 81-year-old woman had a rare subtype of melanoma, a type of skin cancer, which can rarely develop in the eye.
Cases of skin cancer in the eye is incredibly rare, only occurring in one in every 2million people per year.
But the elderly Swede was even more unfortunate, with her skin cancer being especially difficult to spot due to its lack of pigmentation.
Medically these cancers are known as amelanotic, and they only occur in one every 10 cases of melanoma.
Swedish medics also detailed another eye-watering case of the disease, this time in a 50-year-old woman. thes eimages show the dramatic growth of the lesion that turned out to be cancer
It is typically caught at later, more serious, stages.
The unnamed elderly Swedish woman was treated by eye specialists at the Skaraborg Hospital for swelling of the eyelids and a sense of a foreign body such as dirt in her eye.
However, despite being prescribed medication to reduce the swelling, she was still experiencing issues a few weeks later.
This prompted a more detailed examination of her eye which found a tumour-like growth on the interior of her eyelid.
Biopsies were taken and revealed this growth was amelanotic melanoma in the eye.
Medics, who detailed the case in the Journal of Medical Case Reports, then ordered detailed scans to be taken of the patient’s eye, neck and head to check if the cancer had spread further into other nearby tissues.
Unfortunately, images showed a potential tumour growing inside the eye itself, specifically inside the muscles that help the organ move side-to-side.
Medics recommended the patient had the eye removed, as there was no way to remove the tumours and keep the eye intact.
They reported the surgery was successful, with the primary tumour on the inside of her eyelid measuring 13mm wide and 7mm deep.
Unlike the 81-year-old woman she did not need to have her entire eye removed with lab analysis revealing the growth was in fact a cancerous tumour. These images shows the difference before the surgery (left), post-operation (middle) and six months later (right)
Doctors said that nine months after the op, the patient was doing well with no further signs of cancer — and was using a prosthetic replacement.
Swedish medics also detailed another alarming case of the disease, this time in a 50-year-old woman in 2022.
The woman had had a lesion on her left eye that was causing her discomfort a few months before seeking help from her GP.
Her family doctor referred her to eye specialists who reported a 2mm by 4.8mm lesion and scheduled her in for more detailed tests.
Medics didn’t specify how long the woman waited for these tests, but they said when she returned the lesion was found to grown dramatically to 4mm by 5mm.
She was scheduled in for surgery to remove what medics now suspected was amelanotic skin cancer in her eye and this proceeded successful.
Unlike the 81-year-old woman, she did not need to have her entire eye removed with but lab analysis revealed the growth was a cancerous tumour.
She underwent preventive radiotherapy in a bid to eliminate any remaining traces of the cancer.
Eye cancers, of all types, are rare with only some 900 cases diagnosed in the UK each year. Stock image
Thankfully subsequent scans have found no traces of the disease though the women will need to undergo annual check-ups for cancer for the rest of her life.
Concluding their report, the experts said the rarity of these type of tumours makes research into treatment and prevention challenging.
They added this rarity means they may be mistaken for non-cancerous conditions by both patients and medics, a factor that can delay diagnosis.
British charity Cancer Research UK describes melanoma of the eye as ‘extremely rare’ with treatment mainly a combination of surgery and radiotherapy, which uses radiation to kill cancer cells or potential cancer cells.
Eye cancers, of all types, are rare with only some 900 cases diagnosed in the UK each year.
About two in five patients die within 10 years of their diagnosis, with some 130 fatalities per year.
