What Does It Mean When Your Eyes Have Brown Spots?
What Do Brown Spots on Your Eye Mean? Brown spots on the eyes are abnormal growths on the eye usually caused by nevi or ocular melanoma. Brown spots on the eye are caused by a clumping of pigment cells, similar to how freckles or moles form on the skin. Some people are born with these spots. Other people develop them as they age.
What causes dots on eyes?
Causes – Eye floaters may be caused by vitreous changes related to aging or from other diseases or conditions:
- Age-related eye changes. The vitreous is a jelly-like substance made primarily of water, collagen (a type of protein) and hyaluronan (a type of carbohydrate). The vitreous fills the space in your eye between the lens and retina and helps the eye maintain its round shape. As you age, the vitreous changes. Over time, it liquifies and contracts — a process that causes it to pull away from the eyeball’s inside surface. As the vitreous changes, collagen fibers within the vitreous form clumps and strings. These scattered pieces block some of the light passing through the eye. This casts tiny shadows on your retina that are seen as floaters.
- Inflammation in the back of the eye. Uveitis is inflammation in the middle layer of tissue in the eye wall (uvea). Posterior uveitis affects the back of the eye, which includes the retina and an eye layer called the choroid. The inflammation causes floaters in the vitreous. Causes of posterior uveitis include infection, autoimmune disorders and inflammatory diseases.
- Bleeding in the eye. Bleeding into the vitreous can have many causes, including retinal tears and detachments, diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), blocked blood vessels, and injury. Blood cells are seen as floaters.
- Torn retina. Retinal tears can happen when a contracting vitreous tugs on the retina with enough force to tear it. Without treatment, a retinal tear may lead to retinal detachment. If fluid leaks behind the tear, it can cause the retina to separate from the back of your eye. Untreated retinal detachment can cause permanent vision loss.
- Eye surgeries and eye medications. Certain medications that are injected into the vitreous can cause air bubbles to form. These bubbles are seen as shadows until your eye absorbs them. Silicone oil bubbles added during certain surgeries on the vitreous and retina also can be seen as floaters.
Who gets eye freckles?
Where do eye freckles come from? – Often nevi (especially iris nevi) result from sun exposure, just like freckles do for some people. You may be at risk if you have a light complexion and light-colored eyes (blue or green). Babies might be born with conjunctival nevi, or this type might also form during childhood.
Are eye freckles genetic?
Eye Freckles and Their Causes – Eye freckles can be caused by genetic traits or sun exposure. You can be born with eye freckles or develop them later in life. There are actually several kinds of eye freckles, and proper examination by a professional eye doctor ensures proper diagnosis and treatment planning.
Can you get eye freckles removed?
Eye freckle removal surgery – Plus-size model Ingrid Medeiros traveled from New York to have Dr. Assil do her surgery. Hear her story and see her results. Can I get my eye freckle removed? Yes, you can. At AGEI, we remove Conjunctival Nevi for 2 common reasons: a suspicious appearance, or if they appear cosmetically undesirable to the patient.
If melanoma is suspected, your eye doctor will recommend an excisional biopsy, in other words removing the pigmented lesion surgically. The resulting hole in the conjunctiva is closed with dissolvable sutures, surgical “glue”, or laser cautery, depending on its size and location. The removed tissue would then be sent to a pathology lab to assess for the presence of cancer cells.
The removal of a cosmetic nevus is a much simpler and gentler procedure that involves using a very mild thermal brushing technique to extract the pigment from the surface of the conjunctiva. Recovery is typically quick and painless, with no trace of the prior nevus and, in our experience, resulting in great patient satisfaction.
What percentage of people have eye freckles?
What Eye Freckles Can Tell You About Your Health Have you ever noticed little specks in the iris——of your eyes? Research published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science shed some light on these so-called eye freckles, and why some people have them and others don’t.
- Eye freckles occur in about 50% of the population, according to research presented in the British Journal of Dermatology, but the incidence can vary among different ethnic groups and geographic regions.
- They are defined as clusters of abnormal melanocytes, or melanin-generating cells, that sit on the surface of the iris.
The researchers who authored the Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science article said that like skin freckles, eye freckles may develop in response to sun exposure. “In dermatology, the appearance of hyperpigmented spots—especially in chronic —is linked to a high lifetime accumulation of sunlight,” study author Christoph Schwab, MD, wrote in an email to Health,
“We think that the pathway involved in iris freckles formation could be quite similar.” To investigate this theory, Dr. Schwab, who is an ophthalmologist at the Medical University of Graz in Austria, teamed up with other ophthalmologists and dermatologists to examine the skin and eyes of more than 600 people.
What causes dark spots in the white part of eyes? – Dr. Elankumaran P
The researchers also collected information from the participants about their history of sun exposure, including the number of sunburns they’d had, and their use of sun protection. The research findings pointed to some possible risk factors that could be associated with eye freckles.
They tended to be older than folks who had no eye freckles.They were more likely to report a high number of sunburns during their lifetime.They tended to have sun-damaged skin and age spots (aka sun spots, or actinic lentigines).
The researchers wrote in their paper that these findings “seem to suggest that iris freckles indicate a high cumulative dose of lifetime sun exposure.” They also noted that eye freckles were more common in the study participants than they are in the general population, reporting that 76% of the participants in the study possessed at least one eye freckle.
- The study authors suggested that this could possibly be because the participants were recruited from public swimming pools: They may have, the authors speculated, with greater exposure to than the average person. What Dr.
- Schwab found most fascinating was the location of most eye freckles: the lower, outer section of the iris.
One potential explanation is that the eyebrows and nose help shield the inner and upper quadrants of the iris—leaving the lower, outer sections more exposed to the sun’s rays, Dr. Schwab suggested. While eye freckles themselves are usually benign, they may serve as a warning sign for sun-related health problems, the researchers concluded.
“The presence of iris freckles also indicates sun damage to the skin, a risk factor for several different kinds of skin cancer. Within this context, there is certainly a need for further studies investigating the association between and iris freckles,” they wrote. In fact, a research study published in the journal Dermatologic Therapy found that participants who had precancerous skin changes were more likely to have eye freckles than participants who didn’t have these precancerous skin changes.
The researchers said that the results did not point to a specific recommendation, but added that people who have precancerous skin lesions might benefit from eye exams. More research on iris specks might also help healthcare providers understand the role that sunlight plays in conditions like macular degeneration and,
The investigation of iris freckles in several eye diseases could lead to new knowledge regarding their pathogenesis,” said Dr. Schwab. Sunlight is, of course, beneficial for mood, and it’s necessary to get enough vitamin D. And while excess sunlight has long been known to cause damage to skin health, it might also be harmful to your eyes.
Dr. Schwab urged caution: “If someone exhibits iris freckles, especially young age, I would reconsider current sun protection strategies.” To keep your skin safe and your eyes freckle-free, remember to apply plenty of SPF (yes, even when it’s cloudy), and wear shades or a hat to shield your peepers from the sun. Thanks for your feedback! : What Eye Freckles Can Tell You About Your Health
Is freckle in eye genetic?
Eye Freckles and Their Causes – Eye freckles can be caused by genetic traits or sun exposure. You can be born with eye freckles or develop them later in life. There are actually several kinds of eye freckles, and proper examination by a professional eye doctor ensures proper diagnosis and treatment planning.