Have You Heard of Hairy Eyeballs? Here’s What You Need to Know About the Rare Eye Condition

Reports about a rare tumor in a 19-year-old man came out in 2013. Specifically, the said tumor reportedly caused hair to grow on this man's eyeball.

Limbal dermoid, a benign tumor, according to the case report, was benign and had existed since the young man's birth. 

It was said to gradually grow in size until the tumor was about five millimeters in diameter, and produced a few black hairs. His eye condition was treated through surgery.

Limbal dermoid, according to eye experts, are uncommon. A specialist may encounter just one or two conditions during a career in the medical field.

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What is Limbal Dermoids?

According to medical research, Limbal dermoids are more often than not, benign congenital tumors containing tissue that is not typically found in that area.

They frequently appear at the corneal limbus' inferior temporal quadrant. Nevertheless, eye specialists say that they may appear entirely within the cornea or may be limited to the conjunctiva.

Limbal dermoids may contain an assortment of historically unusual tissues, which include skin, fat, connective tissue, epidermal appendages, sweat gland, muscle, vascular structures, lacrimal gland, teeth, bone, and cartilage, among others. Malignant degeneration is extremely rare.

Dermoid has three categories: Limbal dermoid, which overlaps the limbus and typically impacts deeper structures; Corneal dermoid, which involves just the superficial cornea; and the Anterior segment of a group, which includes dermoid involving the whole anterior segment.

Common Symptoms

Dermoid may occur at birth, although they may be identified during a person's first or second decade of life. They appear bigger in size as an individual matures.

Typically, dermoids appear in patients aged below 16 years and may experience symptoms such as poor vision, foreign body in the eye, increasing ocular mass, and cosmetic deformity.

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Causes of Dermoids

The majority of the dermoids cases are said to be erratic, and no link is found with any known irritant or toxin.

However, some theories suggest explanations on the development of such dermoids. One theory proposes an "early developmental error" that causes the metaplastic transformation of mesoblast in the middle of the surface ectoderm and rim of the optic nerve.

Another proposes the appropriation of pluripotent cells during the surrounding ocular structures' embryonic development.

Management and Treatment

Management of this rare eye condition needs to be done under the supervision of medical experts. This may include medical therapy from which the doctor would apply lubricant drops or ointments in the affected eye.

Another form of management or treatment is the episodic abstraction or removal of irritating cilia. Dermoids can also be treated through surgery.

According to experts, surgical methods are the permanent treatment for this case, and it could intervene with vision, for one.

Essentially, surgery is performed only when the threat of subsequent formation of scar or other complications is prevailed over by the advantages of the appearance of cosmetic or improvement of vision.

Attempts at total dermoid removal, medical experts claim, are not necessary. The lesion may extend into the eye's deeper structures, and the danger of puncture increases if such tries are made to remove the lesion completely.

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