When does surgery have to be performed?
Once a tumor of the lacrimal gland has been diagnosed, surgical removal is in most cases the method of first choice. The decision depends less on a malignant or benign diagnosis, but rather on the patient’s level of suffering. Even a benign tumor can lead to severe visual disturbances and visual field failures and can also have cosmetic consequences. Therefore surgery is recommended.
How is the operation performed?
Surgical removal (extirpation) is an attempt to remove the tumor in its entirety. Depending on the extent of the tumor, the operation is performed under general or local anesthesia. With local anesthesia, only the area of the eye is treated with a drug so that no pain is felt there.
As a rule, patients are put into a half-sleep state. Then the borders of the tumor are first carefully exposed and vessels and nerves are exposed. Inflowing vessels are pinched off and bleeding is prevented.
Then the tumor is severed at the border, or in most cases a safety margin of one centimeter of healthy tissue is cut out to make sure that the tumor could be removed in its entirety. The removed tumor is then sent to the laboratory for examination. In most cases, it is only then that it can be determined whether it is benign or malignant. Then the tissue and skin are sutured up again and the wound is bandaged.
