To report a rare case of choroidal metastasis from renal cell carcinoma.

A 61-year-old man visited our clinic with the chief complaint of decreased vision in the right eye. Three years earlier, he underwent right nephrectomy due to renal cell carcinoma. Best corrected visual acuity was 0.2 in the right eye and 1.0 in the left eye. Fundoscopic examination of the right eye revealed a yellowish, dome-shaped elevated choroidal mass with serous retinal detachment, measuring 5.0 × 4.0 disc diameter and located lateral to the macular area. Systemic evaluations showed multiple lung and brain metastases. A diagnosis of choroidal metastasis from renal cell carcinoma was made for the right eye, and the patient received local treatments with oral sorafenib therapy, composed of subtenon triamcinolone injection and intravitreal ranibizumab injection. Tumor progression continued, and visual acuity declined to hand motion. Enucleation was recommended, but the patient refused and is on a regular follow-up after transpupillary thermotherapy.

Ocular manifestation may be the initial presenting sign of a recurrent tumor, and an extensive systemic evaluation for metastatic malignancy should be performed. The present example showed a rare case of choroidal metastasis from renal cell carcinoma.