After eye cancer is detected and staged,  the patient’s cancer care team will devise a treatment plan that focuses on the type, stage and location of the cancer, as well as the patient’s overall health status. The treatment choice also involves whether or not it can preserve the patient’s vision. Intraocular cancers are rare, so the patient may choose to seek a second opinion from a physician who specializes in cancers of the eye. Treatment options for eye cancers include:

• Surgery. Surgery is used to treat some patients with intraocular melanomas and children with retinoblastomas. Common surgical procedures for these cancers  include:
  
  
• Iridectomy. Procedure to remove part of the iris. This technique is typically used for very small iris melanomas.
  
  
• Iridotrabeculectomy. Procedure to remove part of the iris and some of the tissue that drains the aqueous fluid. This is another techniques used for small iris melanomas.
  
  
• Iridocyclectomy. Procedure to remove part of the iris and the ciliary body. This operation is also used to treat small iris melanomas.
  
  
• Enucleation. Procedure to remove the entire eyeball. Enucleation is the standard surgical treatment for retinoblastoma of one eye. It is also the preferred treatment for large melanomas because other treatments for these tumors would also destroy the patient’s vision. The eye is replaced with a prosthetic version, and the muscles are reattached to allow some normal movement.
  


• Radiation therapy. High-energy radiation used to kill or shrink cancer cells. The main advantage of radiation therapy, which can often preserve part of the patient’s vision, is that it also preserves the structure of the eye. However, it can damage tissue around the eye and may lead to the eventual development of cataracts, a cloudiness on the eye’s lens. Types of radiation therapy include external beam radiation and brachytherapy. 
  
  External beam radiation may be used to treat intraocular lymphoma. Brachytherapy involves surgical placement (and later removal) of radioactive seeds close to the tumor. Brachytherapy, which typically cures 90 percent of small tumors, is the most common form of radiation used for eye melanomas. It is also used to treat retinoblastomas.
  
  
• Laser therapy. This type of therapy burns tissue with a high-energy, highly focused beam of light. Laser therapy can be effective in treating tiny retinoblastomas and small melanomas of the eye. Even though the laser beam can accurately focus only on the cancer cells, patients still experience some visual loss after laser therapy. Patients usually require several laser treatments, which are typically administered six to eight weeks apart.
  
  
• Thermotherapy. Used to treat retinoblastoma, thermotherapy heats the eye with infrared lasers. Thermotherapy may be the only form of treatment for small tumors in certain locations. Similar to standard laser therapy, thermotherapy is generally administered while the patient is under anesthesia. Patients typically require three treatments over the course of three months.
  
  
• Cryotherapy (also called cryosurgery and cryocoagulation). Cryotherapy relies upon extreme cold to destroy small retinoblastoma tumors. After the patient is put to sleep with anesthesia, a low-temperature probe is placed next to the tumor on the eye’s surface. The extreme temperature of the probe kills the cancer cells. Cryotherapy may cause temporary swelling of the eye and eyelid, and usually must be repeated several times.
  
  
• Chemotherapy. This treatment uses powerful drugs to kill cancer cells. These drugs are typically administered either intravenously or orally. After the drugs enter the patient’s bloodstream, they begin to spread throughout the body. Chemotherapy is an efficient method to treat intraocular lymphoma. Depending on the lymphoma’s type and stage, chemotherapy may be used alone or it may be combined with radiation therapy.
  
  However, relatively few drugs have proven beneficial for treating intraocular melanoma. Chemotherapy is used to treat melanomas that have spread from the eye to other areas of the body. Chemotherapy may also be used to treat children with retinoblastoma in both eyes in an attempt to shrink the tumors. It is also used when retinoblastoma has spread to distant sites. However, this type of cancer tends to become resistant to chemotherapy over time.

Patients who receive treatment for eye cancer will typically attend follow-up examinations every three months. Certain tests, such as MRI, may be performed to ensure that the cancer has not reappeared or spread (metastasized) to other areas of the body. Children with retinoblastoma may be at risk for developing other cancers, including brain tumors. They may require regular MRIs or other tests to monitor for a new appearance of cancer. Patients are encouraged to immediately report any new symptoms to their physician. New symptoms can indicate recurrence of a cancer or side effects from treatment.

Eye cancer patients may also face loss of vision or vision impairment and cosmetic problems associated with their treatment. When an eye is removed through enucleation, a prosthesis is used to replace it. In addition, some treatments may cause a sagging or caved-in appearance of the eye, which can also be treated.

To date, there is no known method of preventing eye cancers. People may be able to reduce their risk by limiting their exposure to direct sunlight and wearing wrap-around sunglasses with 99 to 100 percent UVA and UVB absorption. However, there are no steps that a parent or child can take to reduce a child’s risk of developing retinoblastoma.