New diagnosis of Iritis

[Banjo karen]

Hi I would like to introduce myself and thank you for letting me join this forum. I am from Manchester in the Uk & I was diagnosed with Iritis five days ago. I had been suffering an ongoing eye infection for 3 weeks before I was informed that I had iritis. At first I was treating myself with chloremphenicol eye drops which did help a little but they didn't clear up the redness in my eye. I ended up going to a walk in G.P centre and the doctor there gave me antibiotic drops and ointment. The redness in my eye did improve a little while i was taking the course of treatment but as soon I stopped taking the medication the redness with a vengeance. I ended up going to an eye hospital on the weekend when my eye was so painful and the light was blinding me and causing even more pain. I saw someone there who carried out a series of tests on my eye and said i had Iritis. They didn't tell me much about the condition apart from that it could be due to my immune system attacking my eye or that it could be other factors. They never told me that this condition was serious and it wasn't until i got home and found this site that I realised that this was a serious matter. I have since been very worried being diagnosed with Iritis and I admit I have found the information that I have found very overwhelming. I have been prescribed Pred Forte, mydrialate eye drops and maxitrol ointment. I have to administer the pred forte for six weeks, then I have to go and get my eye checked again. I have purchased and read the book called Living with Uvetis, A complete guide to Uvetis and Iritis by Kevin Work. This book was very informative and helped me to understand the condition a bit more. There is however sometimes a down side to knowing too much information as this has worried me a bit more about what the future holds regarding my sight. The author of the book recommends that you should find a good eye specialist who will know what treatment to give you. I am going to see my GP next week, but I am not sure how to approach this subject as I am not the type of person that is very assertive, so I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on how to get my concerns and wishes across. Thank you for reading this.

[Hudsongrl]

Hi there and welcome. Yes the info can definitely be overwhelming. At any rate if you can see one of the uveitis specialists listed i would highly recommend it. My GP was not at all helpful with iritis but I am now seeing an ocular immunologist who is great.

Like you, i wasn't treated quickly...misdiagnosed for over 3 weeks. So, it took me awhile to get on track.

[vancouver]

How about an update? You should know if it is granulominous or not? Bilateral? Iritis normally does not damage your eye. I had two untreated episodes of grade4 iritis with no permanent loss of vision.
Normally, iritis is self limiting. Dont bother your doc with questions. Do your research. Iritis normally lasts a few weeks. If it goes on for months , you start to have problems. Be careful to take the drugs exactly as prescribed. Study the redness in your eye each day so you see the relationship between redness and cell count.
My redness was in outside corner and did not completely go away until i was down to 1 to 5 cells. The doc does not have time to spoon feed you all this info..

You need a gp opthomologist not specialist. You may not even have another episode. if its granulominous or bilateral you will need testing etc. The steroids wont damage your eyes in the few weeks needed to extinguish iritis. Most of the people on net have extreme cases of iritis which is not relevant to majority of iritis people