Woman Loses Eye To Rare Form Of Ocular Melanoma

Source: Opposing Views. March 2016

After losing her eye to a rare form of cancer, an Australian woman wants to raise awareness and further understanding of this potentially fatal disease.

In January 2015, Jessica Van Zeil was diagnosed with a special form of ocular melanoma. For years, she had a red spot on her eye that gradually worsened as time went on.

Her first surgery was in 2013, but it wasn’t until years later that her conditioned degenerated.

“The results from my first surgery came back as benign, but soon I developed these three small brown lumps over my eye,” Van Zeil explained, reports the Daily Mail. “When I had the surgery to have these removed they came back as being positive melanoma.”

On Oct. 9, 2015, that she underwent a life-saving surgery that resulted in the removal of her left eye and eyelids, and the closure of her eye socket.