Tumors of the Eye

What are Eye Tumors?

What is a tumor of the eye?

• A “tumor” simply means a mass or tissue swelling. This term applies to both benign tumors (such as a mole on the skin) as well as malignant tumors (which are referred to as cancer).
• “Benign” means that a tumor that does not have the ability to invade or spread to other organs. Benign tumors are not cancers.
• “Malignant” refers to a tumor that has the ability to invade and spread to other organs. The term “cancer” refers to a malignant tumor.
• Most eye tumors involve the conjunctiva, uvea (composed of the iris, ciliary body, and choroid), retina or optic nerve.

Types of Eye Tumors

Tumors of the Choroid and Ciliary Body

• Choroidal nevus
• Choroidal melanoma
• Choroidal metastasis
• Choroidal hemangioma
• Choroidal osteoma

Tumors of the Retina and Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE)

• Retinoblastoma
• Retinal capillary hemangiomas
• Congenital hypertrophy of the RPE
• RPE adenoma

Tumors of the Iris

• Iris melanoma
• Tumors of the Optic Nerve
• Melanocytoma
• Metastasis

Ocular lymphoma

• Intraocular lymphoma
• Conjunctival lymphoma