• A 53-year-old black woman showed increasing epibulbar pigmentation following recurrent episcleritis at the same location. A biopsy was refused until vision was lost and a large black mass protruded from the globe and invaded the superficial cornea. Exenteration was performed and histological examination disclosed a malignant melanoma of the cornea with an adjacent intraepithelial conjunctival melanoma. We believe that the tumor arose in an area of acquired melanosis of the perilimbal conjunctiva and that secondary spread into adjacent superficial cornea occurred.
Epibulbar malignant melanomas are uncommon conjunctival tumors in the general population and are especially rare in blacks.