Uveitis

The symptoms you might notice vary depending on your type of uveitis. If the inflammation is located in the iris and the ciliary body, you will normally notice that your eye is red, painful, and particularly sensitive to light, as well as blurred vision in some cases. If the uveitis is in the choroid, you won’t have a painful or red eye, but you might see floaters and lose vision (normally temporarily, although the risk of permanent vision damage increases if the right treatment is provided early on).

veitis is particularly frequent in ages of 20-40, and is the third cause of blindness in the working-age population in developed countries.

It is a multi-factor disease that may arise in an isolated manner in the eye or be related to disorders that affect the rest of the body as well as the eye. The most common causes of uveitis are:

• Infections: for example toxoplasmosis (the most common cause of infection), tuberculosis, syphilis, herpes, etc.
• Autoimmune problems: such as sarcoidodis, lupus or certain rheumatic disorders (rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, etc.), among others.
• Abnormal tissue formations that might be benign or cancerous.

At Miranza we perform a detailed, individual study of the causes of uveitis, which is extremely complex. In fact, in a large number of cases (around 30%) the specific source of the inflammation is unknown.

This disease must be treated as early as possible to avoid not only associated discomfort and pain but also to prevent permanent vision damage.

The basic goal of the therapies for uveitis is to decrease inflammation through corticosteroids in eye drops. We can also administer other medication, either as eye drops or orally to treat the underlying disorders. The most commonplace are: non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, antibiotics in the case of infection, antineoplastics or immune modulators.

If you have uveitis, ophthalmological control is essential to tracking your evolution, being aware of new outbreaks and handling any complications associated to this inflammation, such as cataracts, retinal detachment or macular oedema.