Relationship of iris nevi to malignant melanoma of the uvea.

To test the hypothesis that there is an increased number of iris nevi in eyes with a posterior uveal melanoma, we performed slit-lamp examinations on 50 patients with choroidal or ciliary body melanomas to note the presence and number of iris nevi in both eyes. We compared these patients to 50 age-matched control subjects who had cataracts. No relationship was found between the number of iris nevi and posterior uveal melanoma.