DIFFUSE MELANOTIC LESION OF THE IRIS AS A PRESENTING FEATURE OF CILIARY BODY MELANOCYTOMA - REPORT OF A CASE AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Melanocytoma of the ciliary body is quite rare. Although the tumor is benign, it can spread to the surrounding structures, causing glaucoma and giving an erroneous impression of melanoma. We report a case of me lanocytoma of the ciliary body in a 19-year-old woman who presented wi th diffuse melanocytic proliferation of the iris with uncontrolled sec ondary glaucoma and a subconjunctival pigmented mass. Fine-needle aspi ration of the iris lesion and a histopathologic study of the subconjun ctival mass could not rule out melanoma. Enucleation of the painful gl aucomatous eye showed evidence of ciliary body melanocytoma with exten sion into the angle structures as well as the subconjunctival tissue. (C) 1998 by Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.).