Clinicopathologic study of malignant eyelid tumours.

Background:  Early diagnosis of malignancy of eyelids can save the visual system from metastasis. The study was carried out to determine its pattern of prevalence, which will be a milestone for the ophthalmologists to design a clinical strategy for early intervention. Methods:  Retrospectively, we studied 155 eyelid cases from 2000 to June 2009 carried out through histopathologic confirmation. The cases other than malignancy were excluded. Results:  A total of 37 malignant eyelid tumours were seen. There were 40.6 per cent male cases. Sebaceous gland carcinoma was the commonest (40.5 per cent) finding, followed by squamous cell carcinoma (27 per cent), basal cell carcinoma (24.3 per cent), basosquamous carcinoma (5.4 per cent) and malignant melanoma (2.7 per cent). Conclusions:  As the most common tumour in the region, sebaceous gland carcinoma might be due to geographical and environmental variations and requires immediate consultation and histopathologic diagnosis of lid lesions above 40 years of age for treatment strategies.