Ocular Melanoma Prevention

Eye cancer is a general term for any cancer that begins in the eyeball (called primary cancer), orbit (socket), eyelids or tear glands. The most common type of eye cancer is ocular melanoma, which originates in the eyeball. The eyeball has three layers, and ocular melanoma usually develops in the middle layer called the uvea.

Secondary eye cancer is cancer that began somewhere else in the body and then spread, or metastasized, to the eye. Secondary eye cancer is actually more common than primary eye cancer. Breast and lung cancers are the most likely cancer types to metastasize to the eye.

Ocular melanoma results when cells in the middle layer of the eyeball grow out of control. While it remains unclear what causes ocular cells to develop into cancer, researchers have identified several ocular melanoma risk factors.

• Age. Ocular melanoma can occur at any age, including in the teens and 20s. But the risk of developing eye cancer increases with age with most ocular melanomas developing in the 60s and 70s.
• Race. Ocular melanoma is rare, but it is much more common in whites as compared with other races.
• Eye color. People who have light-colored eyes are at higher risk for the disease than people with darker-colored eyes.
• Moles. Having nevi (moles) on the eye increase the risk of ocular melanoma. However, most people with nevi on the eye never develop eye cancer.
• Inheritable conditions. People who have certain inherited conditions, such as dysplastic nevus syndrome and nevus of Ota, have a greater risk for ocular melanoma than people who don’t have these conditions. Another inheritable condition called BAP1 cancer syndrome puts individuals at risk for aggressive forms of eye cancer, skin melanoma, kidney cancer and more. These tend to affect people at younger ages.

While sun exposure is an important risk factor for skin melanoma, it does not appear to cause ocular melanoma. Similarly, it is unclear if having skin melanoma increases a person’s risk for developing ocular melanoma.

Because experts don’t know exactly what causes primary ocular melanoma, we can’t make specific suggestions on how to prevent it. Still, it is always a good idea to take steps to lower your overall risk of cancer through lifestyle modification, especially considering most eye cancers actually originate in other parts of the body. The following guidelines may be important for secondary ocular melanoma prevention:

• Not using any tobacco products
• Not drinking alcohol
• Maintaining a body mass index below 25
• Being physically active every day
• Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in processed meats

Winship Cancer Institute is dedicated to curing cancer through our extensive research program, which goes beyond developing novel treatments for cancer. We’re focused on improving all the ways the world prevents, detects, diagnoses, treats and survives all types of cancer, including ocular melanoma. Together with investigators at the Emory Eye Center, we collaborate in lifesaving research into ocular melanoma and other cancers of the eye.