Small brown spot of sclera

[JDS40]

The other night my wife noticed a small brown spot/splotch on the white part of her eye. First time she noticed it. Said it wasn’t there a few months ago. She’s 36, white with brown eyes. She wears glasses to drive and watch TV. No other symptoms- no floaters, no flashes of light, no pain, no loss of vision. She’s getting an eye exam tonight with an optometrist- ophthalmologist was a 3-5 week wait. We know eye cancer is extremely rare especially in someone this age and with darker eyes but we had a friend pass at 40 from ocular melanoma so it definitely crossed our mind. Regardless of what the optometrist says we’re going to get her in with an actual eye doctor. Any idea what this could be. Seems like it would be a freckle. Any ease of mind would be greatly appreciated!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Do make every effort to see an Eye MD ophthalmologist rather than non MD optometrist.   The most likely thing would be a conjunctival nevus (non-malignant) also called a freckly. They are very common.

[JDS40]

Thank you, doctor. A visit with an ophthalmologist is scheduled but the earliest appointment they had was 4 weeks away since she’d be a new patient and doesn’t have a referral- our insurance is picky about that. But I appreciate the answer. It does ease our minds knowing there aren’t any other symptoms and this most likely will just need to be monitored. I will keep you updated. Thanks again!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Sure. At my office today I saw numerous benign pigmented spots on the conjunctiva.