A method of diagnosing intraocular tumors including illuminating a tissue sample using a pulsed light source resulting in output of heat and thermoelastic expansion of the tissue sample. The thermoelastic expansion of the tissue sample produces propagating waves in ultrasonic frequencies. The propagating waves are acquired using an ultrasound system and back-projection reconstruction, thereby mapping anatomies with optical contrast at ultrasonic resolution to image intraocular tumors.