Liverpool: Researchers from the University of Liverpool have found that
approximately half of patients who have an eye removed because of a form
of eye cancer experience `phantom eye syndrome.’Patients with the condition experience “seeing” and pain in the eye
that is no longer there. Researchers assessed 179 patients whose eye had
been removed as a result of a cancer, called intraocular melanoma. They found that more than a third of the patients experienced phantom
eye symptoms every day. In most patients, the symptoms ceased
spontaneously, but some patients reported that they have to do something
to stop the sensation, such as distracting themselves or blinking.
Pattern and colours
The ‘phantom’ sensations often start several weeks after the eye is
removed, eventually subsiding over time. Most see only patterns or
colours, but some feel they see people and scenes.
More than one-in-four reported that they sometimes feel that they can
even see what is actually happening around them. A similar number feel
pain in the non-existent eye.
The researchers found that a fifth of patients find these sensations pleasurable, but a similar number are disturbed by them.
Largest study
Health psychologist Laura Hope-Stone, from the University’s Institute
of Psychology, Health and Society (IPHS) who led the research, said:
“To our knowledge, this is the largest study of phantom symptoms in
patients who have lost an eye for intraocular melanoma.
“We carried out the study because many patients have told me about
symptoms like this when I see them after surgery for psychological
support, but we did not know exactly how common they are.”
Health psychologist, Dr Steve Brown, also from IPHS, added: “The size
of the study means we can now tell whether certain kinds of people are
more likely to have phantom symptoms.
“They are most common in younger patients, and having pain in the
non-existent eye is more likely in patients who are anxious or
depressed, although we don’t yet know why that’s the case.”
No guarantee
Professor Heinrich Heimann, who leads the Liverpool Ocular Oncology Centre
at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital where the study was
conducted, and the largest of the four UK centres which treat ocular
melanoma, said: “These results are important because now we can tell
patients not to be alarmed if they experience visual sensations or pain
afterwards.
“We can also warn them that, unfortunately, removing an eye does not
guarantee that there will be no pain weeks or months afterwards.”