Malignant melanoma of the eyelid in a Pakistan woman

Malignant melanotic tumors occur infrequently in Pakistan, and an eyelid malignant melanoma is even rare. During a prospective study of the eye tumors in Sindh, we saw a 65-yea-old woman who had a malignant melanoma of the right lower eyelid, the first such published documentation from Pakistan. The tumor had metastasized to preauricular lymph nodes, the enlargement of which had been apparent to the patient for nearly six months. The management included full thickness eyelid and preauricular lymph node excision followed by local irradiation. No recurrence occurred during the first six postoperative months, after which the patient unfortunately was lost to follow-up. [Pakistan Journal of Ophthalmology 9:41-42, April, 1993.]