Recurrent blue nevus of the corneoscleral limbus.
OBJECTIVE
To describe an unusual corneoscleral blue nevus.


METHODS
Review of clinical and histopathological characteristics and previous relevant literature supplemented with immunohistochemical studies.


RESULTS
A 13-year-old Pakistani girl presented with a 5 x 2-mm, superotemporal, nonmovable, recurrent, black, limbal nodule. The lesion had been incompletely removed two and a half years earlier. Nonfascicular, variably pigmented, banal, spindle melanocytes with bland nuclei were discovered histopathologically in the conjunctival substantia propria and superficial sclera in the original and recurrent specimens. HMB-45+ and MART-1+ immunostainings established that all the variably pigmented spindle cells were melanocytes. Dispersed plump melanophages displayed clumped melanin granules and were shown to have small nuclei after decolorization. The Ki-67 proliferation index was very low (0.05%), supporting a benign diagnosis. No residual pigmentation after excision and cryotherapy was observed in follow-up examinations during a year and a half.


CONCLUSIONS
Careful histopathological and immunohistochemical evaluation of recurrent, incompletely excised, blue nevi can determine if they remain benign. Adjunctive cryotherapy was performed to prevent further recurrence, based on results from published data.
Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, MA, USA. fred_jakobiec@meei.harvard.edu
Frederick A
FA
Jakobiec
John
J
Nguyen
Pooja
P
Bhat
Aaron
A
Fay
D000293:Adolescent; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D003316:Corneal Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017679:Cryotherapy; D005134:Eye Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D018329:Nevus, Blue / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D015422:Scleral Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D012599:Sclerostomy
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor