Bilateral conjunctival melanocytosis and retinitis pigmentosa

Abstract

Conjunctival pigmented lesions have varied appearances. It arises from the melanocytic or nonmelanocytes. It is rare to find conjunctival melanocytosis associated with retinal pigmentary dystrophy. We report a case of a 69-year-old male with bilateral typical retinitis pigmentosa with conjunctival melanocytosis. The excessive pigmentation of conjunctiva was recognized when the patient came for cataract surgery. The conjunctival pigment was identified during slit lamp examination. Histopathological section of superior conjunctiva revealed stromal mononuclear infiltrate with melanin pigment in the basal cells. To the best of our knowledge, such an association has not previously been described. Such an association needs to be studied in a large case series. The present of conjunctival pigments may alert the eye surgeon to look for pigmentary disorder of the retina.

Keywords

• conjunctival melanocytosis
• conjunctival pigmentation
• retinitis pigmentosa