New to Iritis

[kathala]

Hello. I was diagnosed with iritis in my left eye last Monday, completely new to me. The previous Thursday I woke up to a slightly red eye and a tiny blurry spot in my field of vision. I figured I had scratched my cornea while removing my contact lens the night before as my eyes had been a little dry. I left my contacts out over that weekend and moisturized often but the blurry spot was getting bigger and my eye was beginning to hurt. So last Monday I was squeezed in to my optometrist. He told me I had iritis, asked me if I had any autoimmune disorders (not that I know of, generally healthy) told me the keratic precipitates was +3 and immediately sent me to an ophthalmologist that afternoon. He also squeezed me in, told me the same thing and prescribed me prednisone drops 4x day. I never had a chance to ask any questions as he was crazy busy. So I went home not knowing a thing about iritis and of course did like anyone else and started googling. I have read a lot on this forum and decided to join because I feel so alone in this. Not knowing what has caused it, when it's going to go away or if it's ever going to come back. So I went back this past Friday 5 days later after starting prednisone drops and told the doctor I felt like my vision had gotten even worse. He confirmed that, said the inflammation was spreading and told me to start doing the prednisone drops once an hour til he sees me again next Friday. I can hardly see out my left eye. It is basically a white sheet I'm looking thru and can make out shapes. It is very scary, I can't imagine what it must be like for anyone who gets it bilaterally. My friend who works at this ophthalmologist I'm seeing told me not to panic or worry, that it will resolve itself in 10-14 days...however from everything I'm reading it takes much longer? I feel like there has been no improvement since starting these drops a week ago tomorrow. I'm really worried and would like any insight as to when I can expect some improvement in my vision or what to expect at all. I know no one can know for sure, but even an idea would be helpful. I'm worried about waiting til next Friday to go back to the doctor and him tell me that the drops aren't working and be at the point of permanent vision loss?? Thanks for all the great information here. Looking forward to any responses, thanks.

[vancouver]

One drop an hr is normal. Are you taking dilating drops? I have not read much about keratic precipitates. Have not heard a doc say kp +3.
They say cell count is +3. +3 is pretty high so i assume u take dilating drops. Vision loss is mainly the cells in your eye blocking vision. If you are not feeling intense pain, it cant be too bad. Intense pain is caused by iris sticking to lens. Not that serious but youd want to go back to doc. If u were not given dilating drops, cant be that bad. Vision loss is temporary. Short term use of steroids are safe and you only lose sight in exceptional cases after years of chronic iritis. Be careful to take meds exactly as prescribed. Steroids are essential. Iritis self limits and of course the steroids work too.

Im speculating but id guess your cells are greasy and are clumping together and causing more loss of vision than would be case with nonsticky cells.
Pain,watery eyes and redness are other measures of intensity if vision is misleading. Next time, you would start steroids as soon as you see a bit of red and not have to go through this.

[kathala]

Thanks for the reply! No I'm not on any dilating drops, only the prednisone. Well, I thought it was a pretty bad case since I could barely see out of the eye, but no, it was not really painful or anything. That seemed to be a pretty common symptom from what everyone else says. And I remember the optometrist asking me "Doesn't this hurt?" when his bright light was shining in my eye as he examined it. I guess I got lucky that way, no more sensitive than just not wearing my sunglasses on a sunny day. Luckily I think the drops are starting to work. The white sheet I've been looking through is becoming less opaque. I'm guessing that is all the cells beginning to dissipate. Hopefully it continues. Will be going back to the opthalmologist this Friday!

[vancouver]

Sounds good:) greasy cells actually raise the likelihood of iris sticking to lens so the lack of dilation suggests that the inflammation cant be that great. (In the drs estimation)Moving your iris does not cause pain and you dont have the intense pain of adhesions between lens and iris. I did read something about greasy cells taking longer to drain out of your eye so your inflammation might already be vanguished.
Myself, i monitored the redness in my eye and a tiny bit of red remained until inflammation was eliminated. My inflammation began with a tiny bit of red in the same spot where the red made its final stand. Also, u started on 4 drops which is for very mild inflammation. Get healthy fast.