Eye removal is done for managing cancers, infections, inflammatory disorders, and intractable eye pain. It involves the removal of the eye by evisceration, enucleation, or orbital exenteration (Fig. 15-1). Evisceration involves removing the intraocular contents while preserving the outer scleral ocular coat and its orbital attachments. Enucleation consists of removing the entire eyeball; thus, the muscles and optic nerve must be detached. Orbital exenteration consists of removing all the orbit’s contents to bone (including periosteum).
Evisceration is rarely used in ocular oncology due to risks related to seeding the orbit with the tumor, recur-rence, and metastatic spread.1 In ophthalmic oncology, enucleation is most commonly used for advanced uveal melanoma and RB, whereas orbital exenteration is most commonly required for managing