Pregnant, Recent Iritis

[Jomica]

Hi. I am 33 and 4 months pregnant and was diagnosed with iritis about two months ago. It was severe in one eye when I first went in, and I also had it in my other eye but didn’t know it. After two days on pred forte, both eyes began clouding over so I went back to the ophthalmologist, who said my eyes had gotten worse and I had several adhesions and poor dilation. He put me on atropine and prednisone in addition to the pred forte (hourly), and after a little over two weeks the inflammation had gone down to almost zero.

I haven’t seen the doctor since then, but my eyes gradually improved and my vision is back to normal. Some headaches I’d been having for a couple of months are now gone as well. However, my eyes are still kind of strained or irritated or something. I keep thinking I need to take my contacts out, but I don’t wear contacts anymore. I bought some Similasan dry eye and am hoping that will help.

We don’t have insurance, so I didn’t have any testing done and am also trying to avoid unnecessary trips to the doctor’s office. I’m just wondering whether the lingering discomfort is a result of the iritis and how long it should take to improve.

By the way, my husband also had iritis about two years ago, and his healed within a week on the drops. He hasn’t had any attacks since then.

[Mike Bartolatz]

with both you and your husband having iritis, it could be from a pathogen as this is VERY rare. did you have GI problems before this?
often a bout of stomach flu could trigger this if genetics for things like the HLA B27 gene exist.

the grittiness and discomfort you have may be from other causes. go to a drug store and buy Refresh brand lubricating eyedrops or theratears lubricating eyedrops. use them frequently to hydrate the conjunctiva. use them at bedtime too.

often uveitis during pregnancy goes away after the first trimester. it stays quiet until a month or so AFTER the baby is born and then it can return. an anti inflammatory substance is made by the pregnant woman. it stops being produced after birth of the child. this substance is being researched for use in treatment of uveitis.

any increase of floaters, aversion to light, red eye or pain should indicate need to return to see the optometrist or opthalmologist. a general practice physician most likely knows very little about iritis and how to treat it. the optometrist would be cheaper to see and to have pressure checks done. if pressure goes below 10 or above 22 you need to see an opthalmologst right away. damage to the optic nerve and rods and cones can occur as Glaucoma or steroid induced glaucoma and meds would be needed to quiet all of this down.

Wishing you and your family the very best,
Mike