Iritis Good news
Moderators: Mike Bartolatz, kwork
Iritis Good news
I was diagnosed with Iritis shortly after the birth of my son in 1996. From then on I had about three episodes a year, regular as clockwork usually around March, in the Autumn and around Christmas, and also always after a cold or viral infection it seemed. I ignored the first as I thought it was conjunctivitis but when it recurred I was sent to the hospital to check it out. I had red eye, pain, dislike of bright light and misty vision. I was given dilating drops, pred forte and cream for overnight and told to put drops in two hourly and taper 4,3,2,1 over four weeks. All tests came back negative, so I still have no idea what caused it. The Health Service were great and when I felt a flare coming on would allow me to phone and get an appointment quickly. My doctor gave me a prescription for pred forte so I could carry a bottle in my handbag should I need it. After a while I could recognise the pain before a flare up, I would test by holding up a finger in front of my face and moving it backwards and forwards, this would cause pain when focussing. Within a day or so of the pain the iritis would flare up. I found that the sooner I treated my eye the better it was as I could prevent a really bad flare up. I was advised by my doctor that a lot of people "grow out of iritis". The good news is that I have now had over two iritis free years. I learnt always to treat early, always take the course as instructed. On one occasion only I got iritis in one eye just after the other, but at all other times only had it in the one eye, so I was able to work. In the early days though, I remember I was very concerned that the iritis would effect my eyesight and worried about the side effects of the drops. Again, hopefully I can put some people's concerns to rest. My eyesight is as good as it ever was prior to iritis, and, although I must have taken gallons of pred forte over the years I have had no ill effects from it. Hoping this may help those of you newly diagnosed. Ang