Conjunctival metastasis from a cutaneous melanoma as the initial sign of dissemination.

Abstract

We report a case in which a conjunctival metastasis from a cutaneous melanoma was the first sign of metastatic disease. An excisional biopsy of an amelanotic pedunculated conjunctival lesion in a 52-year-old man showed epithelioid melanoma. Systemic examination showed widespread disseminated disease from a cutaneous melanoma that had been removed 3 1/2 years earlier. At that time, no signs of metastatic disease were detected. Despite chemotherapy, the patient died 6 weeks later. Conjunctival metastasis from a cutaneous melanoma is a rare and ominous sign of widely disseminated disease.