Freckle behind eye growing! Please help

[Ilikecats]

Please can anyone offer any reassurance? My daughter (25) has been referred to hospital as an urgent referral because freckling behind her eye has tripled in size in the last 2 years since her last eye test, plus got darker. Letter says lesion is flat but has grown from 0.3 DD to 1DD. Im worried sick and google offers no reassurances. Thanks in advance

I'm not a medic but I would assume that, as with any freckle and mole, there is a risk it can turn cancerous and abnormal growth can be an indicator of that.

I had 3 turn up over the space of a few months. I was referred to a specialist ocular oncology unit. With mine they measured them super accurately on calibrated machines. And took scaled reference photos.

What was most noticeable was how old all the other patients were. This is because it is normally a secondary cancer when people have liver cancer. It is extremely rare in young people.

Mine are flat and the edges are smooth so they are being monitored but haven't grown since they first appeared. The specialist are not concerned.

Every normal eye appointment I go to they check the shape of them against the photos. There is too much variation between machines to give accurate growth rates unless they are measured on the same machine as the reference photos. It maybe that the opticians used a different machine between visits.

I hope that all goes well for her.

Hi OP, so the DD measurement is the size of the lesion in relation to the Disc Diameter (DD). The DD is the size of your daughters optic disc (1DD) and is used as a measurement scale for other things in the eye. The difference between 0.3DD and 1DD indicates that it would be a noticeable difference in size between the two sightings (from a third the size of the disc diameter to about the same size as the disc diameter). But the fact it is flat is good. However, an urgent referral is also good and means that she will be seen quickly. Please don't panic. Eye departments are amazing places and the equipment, technology and expertise mean she will get any treatment necessary. It may just be that they monitor any changes for a while.

Edited to make the DD explanation clearer!

Thank you for the replys. @UngratefulOldCabbage and thank you for explaining what DD means. Unfortunately I cant seem to find anything reassuring regarding this at the moment. Its going to be a long agonising wait I think.

Has anyone ever experience of this?

Hi op
How are things? X

Shes had her eye clinic appointments and they said that she may be referred to Moorfields. Shes scored 2 out of 10 on the scale they use and anything above 2 is a referral. She will need to be seen again in 3 months and I am praying it doesn't change. Its all a big worry. Thank you for asking x

Good luck xx

Thank you, xxx

I was referred to opthamology as I have a freckle by my optic nerve, apparently it’s pretty rare to have . it was slightly pigmented but said no concerning features but will have a follow up in 4 months. I could have been born with it but I haven’t been to opticians since I was a kid and I’m now 32 so not sure how long Iv had it. I have bad health anxiety so these things freak me out :/ anyone else had this experience and can give me piece of mind lol ?

@Ilikecats how is your daughter now?

I have one too. I have to get it measured once a year for signs of growth. The hospital are so spectacularly unbothered by it they wont make the appointment themselves. I have to phone up every year and ask them for a new appointment.

So far so good, it has remained unchanged. It was first picked up pre-covid as I remember my follow up being cancelled during covid. So a few years now.