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Conjunctival Nevus

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Abstract

Purpose of Review

To provide an up-to-date review of the epidemiology, presentation, diagnosis, and treatment options for conjunctival nevi (CN).

Recent Findings

Around 17.2%-42% of all conjunctival tumors have been found to be CN, which most frequently present in White individuals between the first to early third decade of life, with equal distribution between males and females. CN commonly occur in the interpalpebral bulbar conjunctiva with pigmentation ranging from amelanotic to dark. Diagnosis is typically made through slit lamp examination, visualized by a well circumscribed, variably elevated, variably pigmented, solitary lesion with clear cysts distributed throughout the pigment. In ambiguous cases, anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) can highlight the presence of sub-clinical cysts, whose presence points to a diagnosis of nevus. However, excisional biopsy with histopathology examination is the gold standard for identifying CN.

Summary

CN are benign, variably pigmented lesions. They are the most common of the conjunctival melanocytic tumors. Due to the extremely low risk of transformation to malignant melanoma (MM), CN are usually managed with routine observation and photo documentation.

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Acknowledgements

Current Stem Ophthalmology Reports would like to thank Editor in Chief, Victor Perez, MD, for his review of this manuscript.

Funding

Supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Clinical Sciences R&D (CSRD) I01 CX002015 (Dr. Galor), Biomedical Laboratory R&D (BLRD) Service I01 BX004893 (Dr. Galor), Rehabilitation R&D (RRD) I21 RX003883 (Dr. Galor), Department of Defense Gulf War Illness Research Program (GWIRP) W81XWH-20–1-0579 (Dr. Galor) and Vision Research Program (VRP) W81XWH-20–1-0820 (Dr. Galor), National Eye Institute U01 EY034686 (Dr. Galor), R01EY026174 (Dr. Galor), R61EY032468 (Dr. Galor), NIH Center Core Grant P30EY014801 (institutional) and Research to Prevent Blindness Unrestricted Grant GR004596-1 (institutional).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, 900 NW 17Th Street, Miami, FL, 33136, USA

    Jaxon J. Huang, Elyana V. T. Locatelli, Alberto Chocron, Matthew R. Camacho, Sander Dubovy, Carol L. Karp & Anat Galor

  2. Surgical Services, Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA

    Jaxon J. Huang, Elyana V. T. Locatelli, Alberto Chocron & Anat Galor

  3. Research Service, Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA

    Jaxon J. Huang, Elyana V. T. Locatelli, Alberto Chocron & Anat Galor

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  1. Jaxon J. Huang
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Correspondence to Anat Galor.

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Huang, J.J., Locatelli, E.V.T., Chocron, A. et al. Conjunctival Nevus. Curr Ophthalmol Rep 11, 104–112 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40135-023-00315-w

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