Hello, fellow player of the inflammed iris.

[|2es-]

I don't have iritis nearly as bad as a lot of the people I've been reading on this forum.

I'm having my 3rd bout of iritis (anterior uveitis) at the moment. Luckily, I felt it coming on (within 2-3 days) and it is not so bad right now. Left eye was hurting and vision was very slightly foggy, so I called the eye doctor and got in within the hour. They put me on pred-forte every 1 hour. However, my eye hasn't gotten any better, if anything it has gotten blurrier, going on for 2 weeks now without any real change to my vision in my left eye except for a bit blurrier. (So far, I've only get iritis in my left eye across all 3 bouts of it.).

(other notes: pressures in my left eye are fine and iris is still dilating fine, not bad enough to stick like in my 2nd bout of it).

Since I've been on pred-forte for 2 weeks without change, I wonder If I should ask the eye doctor about the night ointment you can put in your eye while you sleep?

I have a feeling the opthamologist I'm seeing now doesn't even know about it. (although I didn't use it for my 2nd bout of iritis, but that bout took like 6 weeks for my eye to get better).

My 2nd bout of iritis 4 years ago, I waited to go into the eye doctor for like a week...... waiting was BAD.... Vision got reallly bad and eye hurt a lot. Iris was so bad it was sticking to the lens and wouldn't dilate. (put me on pred-forte every 1 hour and dilating drop... took about 6-8 weeks for eye to get perfectly healed.)

3rd bout of iritis in left eye was 7 years before that... which I don't really remember much.

My Father also gets iritis on occasion, so I guess I inherited from him. We are both in perfect health except for the occasional iritis, no other disorders or diseases. I assuming our iritis is from the one HLA-B27 gene which predisposes us to iritis flare-ups. I believe I was tested for it at some point... but can't really remember. I really don't think my iritis is bad enough at the moment to go onto some prescription NSAID or one of those immune therapy drugs.

I don't think it's bad enough for me at the moment either to drive 4 hours to Portland, OR to one of the recommended uveitis specialists listed there.

[Mike Bartolatz]

Where are you located? if in Washington State, Professor Russel VAngelder at the University of Washington is whom I would recommend for you to contact.
often a trial of difusinal, celebrex or Naprosyn at prescription strength for six months would tell if you could treat this way. then if you flare up with iritis again from the HLA B27 gene associated uveitis, Methotrexate or cellcept could be initiated, Difusinal is avalable as a generic as is Naprosyn but your liver and kidney and heart must be able to take long term NSAID therapy so tests would need to be done before going on them and whild on them.

I live in Tacoma FYI. we have several members from Oregon at the site too. REnee' who helps with the Parent's forum is from Depoe Bay, Oregon. her daughter Alexa had to travel back to Boston to get her childhood Uveitis controlled with the help of Dr Foster at Harvard.

please contact the doctors and get an expedited appointment. your history would indicate that this will continually return with eventual complications to the retina as well as possible glaucoma or cataracts.

contact information for Dr Van Gelder can be found at http://www.uveitis.org in the Patient information section of the site. if you are closer to Utah, DR Albert Vitale is another ocular immunologist who is very good.

Wishing you the very best,
mike Bartolatz