Postsurgical hematic cyst simulating a conjunctival melanoma.

Abstract

A 75-year-old man had undergone bilateral intracapsular cataract extraction and then a scleral buckling procedure for an aphakic retinal detachment in the right eye. He presented 15 years later with a dark brown mass in the superior fornix of his right eye. On the basis of the clinical findings, the diagnosis of a conjunctival melanoma was considered. The lesion was surgically excised and found to be a chronic hematic cyst that arose adjacent to a episcleral sponge placed at the time of retinal detachment surgery. Hematic cysts should be included in the differential diagnosis of pigmented conjunctival lesions.