What is an enucleation?
Enucleation refers to the surgical removal of an eye. This procedure is generally recommended only when all eye-preserving alternatives are inappropriate or undesirable. 1. To eliminate a malignant tumor that has developed within the eye that can threaten life. 2. To alleviate intolerable pain in a blind eye often experienced with uncontrollable glaucoma. 3. To reduce the risk of “sympathetic” inflammation of the remaining good eye when the effected eye has been severely injured and blinded by accident or trauma. Removal of an eye certainly seems to be a drastic measure to most people. Although many patients who require this surgery have no vision in the affected eye, those who do have vision must recognize that enucleation will result in total blindness of the eye once removed.
