Finding Your Way with Ocular Melanoma

Once the ocular melanoma has been treated with radiation, the ocular oncologist monitors for treatment response and complications. Essentially, this means that at each follow-up appointment it is confirmed that the tumor remains dead and killed, and anything that might be treatable is discovered and acted upon. But what about between visits? Are there clues that I must act on so I won't miss a pro...

Sometimes the toughest part about ocular melanoma can be the time after you have completely recovered from your treatment. Now what? About six months in, you may feel anxious, you may be "waiting" for the cancer to show up somewhere else, and you realize that you may still have unanswered questions. This is a very common experience, and most people feel just like you. Here are some tips to help: C...

Should I have plaque or protons? You may be just diagnosed with ocular melanoma, or your eye doctors are concerned about something that MAY be ocular melanoma. We know that radiation treatment is the best way to kill ocular cancer. However, let me share with you why the question to be asking might really be: Who is the best person to be treating my ocular melanoma, and/or making the diagnosis? The...

A prognostic biopsy in ocular melanoma is when a needle is placed within the tumor itself and the sample sent to check for markers that tell us whether the melanoma has a low-likelihood of metastasizing or a high-likelihood of metastasizing. Regardless of your result, the outcomes of these tests are not set in stone. Just because you have low-risk, does not mean you are "home-free" and can discont...

Oliver Sacks, MD was a neurologist and writer who gave us Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat and other fascinating books that provide a personal insight to neurological conditions. Dr. Sacks was diagnosed with ocular melanoma in 2005. Of the short stories in The Mind's Eye, Persistence of Vision is a detailed account of his own personal experience with his diagnosis and how it affe...

The most important test that we use to determine that radiation has successfully killed the ocular melanoma is the ocular ultrasound: we want to see either the same size as before, or a reduction in size of the height (the thickness of the tumor) compared to baseline pretreatment. Listen to learn what we do to monitor for a good treatment response, and how we watch carefully for tumor recurrence....

The most common way that people may lose their vision in ocular melanoma is 1) if they have the eye enucleated (completely removed) or 2) as a side-effect of radiation treatment to kill the tumor. We have a visceral fear of the idea of "vision loss", and this tends to be fueled by our eye care providers, what we believe about our vision, and even our ocular oncologists. In most cases, even if ther...

I recently had the oppotunity to visit the Interventional Radiology suite at UCLA Health to observe Dr. Siddharth Padia give a Hepzato Kit Delcath treatment to a patient with uveal melanoma metastasis. Hepzato Kit is a liver-directed therapy to treat tumors in the liver. This means that the drug is injected into the hepatic artery using x-ray guidance while the rest of the body's circulation is pr...

Navigating Ocular Melanoma group is for people who choose to engage and learn everything possible so they can thrive. Do you have to be struggling to join the group? No, although most people are struggling with something. Our program is also for people who are doing well, AND want to be doing even better. Our research shows that the more you lean-in to your cancer diagnosis, the better you will do...

Without prioritizing Deep Rest, our entire health will decline. Join me in this Health Webinar where you will learn why rest is a biologically essential part of healing, not a luxury. Intentional rest reduces inflammatory pathways, supports hormonal balance, strengthens immune function, for long-term resilience. We'll explore how rest, recovery, and mindful self-care can change the way you experie...

When a person gets newly diagnosed with ocular melanoma, there are two traumatic things that people immediately face: losing sight and losing life. I want to share with you what it really means to "lose sight" in ocular melanoma. The bottom line is that vision loss with brachytherapy (which is plaque radiation treatment) is highly unpredictable and highly variable between different people. The goo...

Nothing has been more inspiring to me than working closely with people who are open to engaging full-on with their mind-body health: to gaining knowledge, to confronting thoughts, to finding ways to improve health and to living our best. It doesn't matter where you are at - you may be at the beginning of your ocular melanoma journey, living with metastatic disease, or somewhere in between. Navigat...

How does medical progress happen? What drives the adoption of new techniques and better patient outcomes? It is patient themselves who drive progress, rarely the physicians and surgeons themselves. Listen to hear why it is so important that patients vocalize their concerns, and question their doctors. In the field of ocular oncology many ophthalmologists continue to use techniques that have not ch...

The data from a cohort of my patients who live in Nevada took me by surprise. I acknowledge the work of Alex Rivas, a University of Nevada medical student and Dr. Wolfram Samlowski, a medical oncologist with uveal melanoma expertise who reached out to me and took action to publish our experience after noticing that our patients were not getting metastasis and dying like the existing data suggests...

Learn why adopting complementary health approaches, such as acupuncture can help boost your overall mind-body health. For your immune system to be boosted, to see your recovery hastened so that you can fine-tune your mind and body to be in the best position to beat metastatic disease, we must think broader. Listen to this episode to understand why it is important to think beyond your immediate hea...

Treating a patient with choroidal melanoma (otherwise known as uveal melanoma or ocular melanoma), starts with a thorough evaluation - history, ocular examination and supporting imaging tests. This is required to first, make the diagnosis. One of the most challening aspects of treating choroidal melanoma is making the diagnosis. Don't forget to get your second opinions! I discuss when to consider...

Getting diagnosed with ocular melanoma may be an isolating experience - few have heard of this type of cancer, let alone have an understanding of the eye to know what this can mean for vision. Yet, getting support - connecting deeply with others is key to our emotional and physical wellbeing. I encourage you to learn, lean into your healthcare team, join trusted groups, and talk to others who have...

If you missed the Live Webinar, welcome to this Episode! It's all here. Learn and get your questions answered about everything to know about ocular melanoma biopsy. I will review ocular anatomy, what can be tested on a biopsy, techniques of biopsy, I'll go through published data on biopsy safety (eye and metastatic-risk safety), the challenges of biopsy, when to take a biopsy, and finally what to...

Just diagnosed with ocular melanoma or other unusual medical condition? If you've been feeling overwhelmed, confused, or unsure what to ask your doctor, this is for you. I'm Dr. Tara McCannel, an ocular oncologist with over 20 years of experience—and I'm here to help you maximize your medical appointments, ask the right questions, and become an empowered, informed patient. Whether you're navigatin...

When you find yourself entering a situation that is completely foreign, it is imperative that you teach yourself everything - read, learn, ask questions, gain clarity. Why? The more you understand your diagnosis and the details of what actually happens when you have eye surgery - specifically radiation plaque surgery - the more in control you will be. Why does being in control matter? More underst...

In cancer of most parts of the body a Stage from 1 to 4 is often assigned at various time points in the cancer journey. This may help to predict prognosis, guide treatments and provide a framework for people to understand how potentially serious things may be. With regards to ocular melanoma, we rely on Staging much less. In fact, the stage of your ocular melanoma cancer does not change how we tre...

Although they share the same name - "melanoma" - the two cancers are cousins at best. Here are the differences - the tumor mutations between eye and skin melanoma are distinct; the systemic therapies that are most effective are different; the pattern of metastasis is different; and the risk factors for cancer development have differences. Watch to learn more!  For Tara McCannel's resources (includ...

After you have had radiation treatment to destroy the ocular melanoma, what's left of your tumor is no longer viable. Radiation destroys the cellular DNA which is needed for the cell to replicate itself, that is for the cancer to grow. After treatment, what's left of the ocular melanoma forms a scar that we continue to measure at every visit with your ocular oncologist. As long as we see the same...

Finding Your Way With Ocular Melanoma: A Handbook For Patients and Families was created to serve as an all-in-one-place resource, written by one of the most experienced ocular oncologists in the world, yours truly! Searching for knowledge on the internet may result in inaccurate information, a focus on the worst-case scenarios, and conflicting ideas on what it is that you should do. My goal is to...

If you've been told that you may have an eye cancer, ocular melanoma, uveal melanoma, or even an unusual freckle, mole, nevus or lesion - it's time to lean in. Don't panic - the diagnosis must be confirmed first. There is a good chance that you do not have cancer, but there also is a chance that you may have eye cancer. How do you figure this out? You must see an ocular oncologist. An ocular oncol...