Eye cancer symptoms: The sign to look out for in your eye that could be signalling the dis
EYE CANCER is one of the least common cancers in the UK. Even so, this doesn't make it any less important or any less worth discussing. Any cancer is a potential threat to life and so knowing what to spot is crucial.
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For example, one symptom of eye cancer is a dark patch on the eye that gets bigger.
Other symptoms also relate to the physical appearance of the eye or the area around it, such as the bulging of one of the eyes or a lump on the eyelid or in the eye that a person finds is increasing in size.
A symptom, although a rare one, is pain in or around the eye.
Symptoms of eye cancer can also impact vision.
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For example, it may be blurred, or a patient may experience shadows, flashes of light, or wiggly lines.
A shadow describes a problem where the vision is partly or totally blocked by shapes beginning in the peripheral vision.
While these are symptoms of eye cancer, they are not just signs of eye cancer.
They can also be signs of other non-cancerous eye conditions.
The most important message is that if these symptoms do arise they are checked by a medical professional.
Statistically one in two people will get cancer in their lifetime, the sooner cancer is found the sooner it can be treated and the longer the life expectancy of an individual with cancer.
Treatments are improving all the time; they are now more effective and fewer people are dying from the condition.
Cancer is still a major threat and every year thousands of families lose loved ones to the disease.
Eye cancer can take multiple forms including eye melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, lymphoma, and retinoblastoma.
Eye melanoma is unusual in that most melanomas develop in the skin and cause skin cancer.
However, it can also affect the eyeball and will run by a different name depending on which part of this complex area it affects.
An eye melanoma develops when the pigment-producing cells in the eyes divide and multiply quickly, producing a tumour.
A number of risk factors can increase a person’s risk of developing an eye melanoma such as a lighter eye colour, pale skin, unusual moles, sunbeds and overexposure to sunlight.
The risk of developing eye cancer increases as a person gets older, but it doesn’t mean that a young person won’t develop the condition.
Treatments for eye melanoma range include ranges of surgery including the removal of the eye.
More information about the different types of eye cancer are available on the NHS website or through your GP.