Ocular cancer

Whatcauses eye melanoma?

Eye melanoma occurs whenthe pigment-producing cells in the eyes divide and multiply too rapidly. This produces a lump of tissue known as a tumour.

It's not clear exactly why this occurs, but the following factors may increase the risk of it happening:

lighter eye colour if you have blue, grey or green eyes, you have a higher risk of developing eye melanoma comparedwith people who have brown eyes
white or pale skin eye melanoma mostly affects white people and is more common inthose with fair skin
unusual moles if you haveirregularly shaped or unusually coloured moles, you're more at risk of developing skin cancer and eye melanoma
use of sunbedsthere's some evidence to suggest that exposing yourself to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunbeds, for example, can increase your risk of eye melanoma
overexposure to sunlight this increases your risk of skin cancer, and may also be a risk factor for eye melanoma

The risk of developing eye melanoma also increases with age, with most cases being diagnosed in people in their 50s.

Read about the risk factors for other types of eye canceron the Cancer Research UK website.

Medically Reviewed by a doctor on 21 Dec 2018

Articles for ocular cancer

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