IRITIS

Iritis is a type of anterior uveitis and refers to inflammation of the iris of the eye.

Causes:

Physical trauma of the eye, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases: ankylosing spondylitis and other disorders associated with HLA-B27, iridocyclitis and other forms of choroids inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis, Behçet’s disease, Crohn’s disease, Lupus, Reiter’s disease, chronic psoriasis, sarcoidosis, scleroderma, ulcerative colitis, goiter, infections: tuberculosis, Lyme disease, syphilis, toxoplasmosis, toxocariasis, Herpes simplex, Herpes zoster virus, malignant diseases: leukemia, lymphoma, malignant melanoma.

Iritis usually occurs secondarily with some systemic diseases, but it may also be a separate symptom.

Types:

There are two main types of iritis: acute and chronic. They differ in several ways. Acute iritis is a type of iritis that passes on its own in several weeks. If therapy is used, recovery is faster. Chronic iritis may be present for months or years before recovery. Chronic iritis does not respond so well to treatment as acute iritis. It is also accompanied with higher risk of severe visual impairment.

Symptoms:

Ocular and periorbital pain, photophobia, consensual photophobia (pain that occurs in the affected eye after lighting up the other eye), blurred and hazy vision, eye redness, especially around the iris, leakage of leukocytes and proteins into anterior chamber, synechia (adhesion of iris to the lens or cornea), motion sickness.

Treatment:

Steroidal anti-inflammatory eye drops (as prednizolon acetate), dilating eye drops (in order to prevent synechia and reduce photophobia), eye drops for reducing intraocular pressure (as brimonidine tartrate), oral steroids, subconjunctival steroid injections, low-steroid substances as methotrexate (for prolonged chronic iritis).

Possible complications include cataract, glaucoma, corneal calcification, posterior uveitis, blindness, keratopathy, cystic macular edema.