Iritis

There are countless causes of iritis, which is to say that no one can tell you why your eyes are on fire - Laura Novak

Iritis
Iritis

image by: Optometry case

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My Experience with Uveitis: by Darren

I woke up, and my life had changed forever. I did not how or to what extent it had changed, but I knew that my life would never be the same. That day I was late for my 7 AM history class, just like every other normal day of my junior year in a California high school. My right eye did not seem normal, something odd was happening. It felt as though there was some sort of pressure building up within my eye, and my vision was very cloudy. I hoped that it would clear up and the next day would be better. Later that afternoon my vision did not improve, if anything it had gotten a bit worse. I continued my day, and after classes went to cross country practice. As I ran I continued to test my vision…

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 My Experience with Uveitis: by Darren

As a ûknow it all” fifteen-year-old boy, I did not want to visit the doctor. However, as a student very interested in biology, I realized that eye problems, as with most health problems, could become more complicated if not treated early in development. Thus, my mother and I went to the ophthalmologist, concerned that I might have some sort of glaucoma or cataract. I was told that I had iritis. I remember thinking ûWhew, it was nothing major.”

Iritis.org

If you’ve recently been diagnosed, “What is Iritis?”, is the number one question we get asked on Iritis.org.

Emergency Medicine Cases

Signs – ciliary flush (erythema that is worse closer to the iris, and not in the periphery as in conjunctivitis), pain relief with cyclolegics but not with topical anesthetics, and consensual photophobia (light in the unaffected eye, because it causes bilateral myosis, causes pain), and abnormal slit lamp exam with keratitic precipitates or hypopyon, and cells and flare in the anterior chamber, which scintillate for milliseconds at a time like ‘snowflakes in the car’s headlights’ when driving at night under an oblique slit lamp light.

UMEM Educational Pearls

The consensual light reflex can be used to make the diagnosis. Of course, shining a light in the affected eye will cause pain, but in iritis shining a light in the normal, unaffected eye (by causing consensual movement of the other affected iris) will cause pain if iritis is present.

StatPearls

Acute anterior uveitis, also known as iritis, is the inflammation of the anterior or posterior chamber and iris. It is not a true ocular emergency, and with proper treatment and follow-up, it has a good prognosis. Uveitis is subdivided into anterior and posterior components. The anterior tract is composed of the iris and ciliary body.

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