Bulbar conjunctival metastasis from mucoepidermoid carcinoma of parotid—a case report and review of literature

BACKGROUND: Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of salivary glands usually metastasizes to the lungs, liver, bone, brain, and skin. We report a rare case of distant metastasis of high-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid to the ipsilateral bulbar conjunctiva of the eye. CASE PRESENTATION: Sixty-year-old male of Kashmiri origin presented to our tertiary care referral cancer institute with exophytic lesion of the left bulbar conjunctiva following his treatment for mucoepidermoid cancer of ipsilateral parotid gland, 9 months back. The lesion was biopsied and reported as high-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Radiological imaging showed no other site of recurrence. The patient underwent orbital exenteration and final histopathological evaluation reported the lesion as mucoepidermoid carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: Distal metastasis from mucoepidermoid carcinoma to bulbar conjunctiva is very rare and to the best of our knowledge has not been previously reported.