Eye cancer therapy can include one or more of several treatments. Laser surgery and external beam radiation are often used to attack ocular tumors. Chemotherapy (the use of cancer-fighting chemicals) and cryotherapy (destruction of cancerous tissues by freezing) are also useful tools. Physicians use plaque brachytherapy when external beam radiation could cause too much damage to surrounding healthy tissues. Small "seeds" (the size of grains of rice) containing radioactive material are attached to a metal plaque. The plaque is then sutured to the eye, inside the socket, with the seeds facing the tumor. This technique limits radiation exposure as much as possible just to the cancerous tissue. The plaque is removed after several days.

Some cancers do not originate in the eye, but spread there from cancer elsewhere in the body. In these cases, addressing the original source of the cancer is an essential part of treatment.  Certain types of tumors are so malignant that the focus of treatment must shift from saving eyesight to simply saving the patient’s life. In these instances, the only treatment choice is enucleation, the removal of the affected eye.