Scleral melt after cryotherapy for conjunctival melanoma.

BACKGROUND

The authors report a patient with a cryotherapy-induced scleral melt after combined excision and cryotherapy of a conjunctival melanoma arising within primary acquired melanosis with atypia.

FINDINGS: In a 65-year-old white man, a severe scleral melt developed within 1 month of complete excision of a superficial conjunctival melanoma combined with double-freeze-thaw nitrous oxide cryotherapy to the scleral bed and surrounding conjunctival margins. Ultrasound biomicroscopy showed the degree of scleral thinning.

CONCLUSIONS

Although many complications associated with cryotherapy have been described in the literature, there are no reports of a scleral melt. Scleral melt is a potential complication of cryotherapy that can occur despite taking precautions and should be monitored in the first few weeks after cryotherapy to the scleral bed of excised conjunctival tumors.