My iritis tends to flare up roughly every 6 weeks and lasts about three days at a time, with NO medication. Meaning if I do NOTHING, it goes away completely on its own after about three days. This pattern has continued for almost two years.
Has anyone else experienced an iritis flare up like this? After speaking with others who suffer from the condition, it seems like most people have YEARLY flareups, not monthly and the symptoms tend to last indefinitely until medication is used to stop it.
I have only been recently been diagnosed and just started pred forte drops but I just wanted to know if anyone has experienced a pattern like this. My ophthalmologist keeps telling me it wont get better unless I use the drops but I can't seem to communicate to him that it always seems to get better on its own regardless.
Strange iritis pattern?
Moderators: Mike Bartolatz, kwork
Re: Strange iritis pattern?
Make sure you take the med exactly as prescribed.
Iritis smoulders without obvious symptoms. He would not prescribe steroids if there were no cells in anterior chamber. You will take steroids until the cell count comes down to trace. It's normal for iritis to self limit but it will still smoulder. Iritis has many different patterns.
The doc is watching how you respond to dose and will zero in on optimal dose for you.
Steroids basically control iritis but they will
You almost always take steroids until cell count goes very low. In the long term there are other drugs that do work to stop the inflammation.
You should ask for your cell count each visit. Get a idea of how strong the iritis is. I assume your iritis is mild. Ask if you have granulomatous or nongranulatous iritis. This way you can compare your situation to others. I have acute iritis that seems to occur every 4years,nongranuomatous , asymmetrically bilateral. Takes about 2 weeks of hourly drops to get to trace cells.
I've listened to people describe their mild iritis but i can't necessarily relate.
You should study your eyes in good light(several bulbs over mirror) to learn to detect
A new iritis flare-up ie spots of redness etc. Monitor your eyes as the iritis subsides to see how redness changes.
Iritis smoulders without obvious symptoms. He would not prescribe steroids if there were no cells in anterior chamber. You will take steroids until the cell count comes down to trace. It's normal for iritis to self limit but it will still smoulder. Iritis has many different patterns.
The doc is watching how you respond to dose and will zero in on optimal dose for you.
Steroids basically control iritis but they will
You almost always take steroids until cell count goes very low. In the long term there are other drugs that do work to stop the inflammation.
You should ask for your cell count each visit. Get a idea of how strong the iritis is. I assume your iritis is mild. Ask if you have granulomatous or nongranulatous iritis. This way you can compare your situation to others. I have acute iritis that seems to occur every 4years,nongranuomatous , asymmetrically bilateral. Takes about 2 weeks of hourly drops to get to trace cells.
I've listened to people describe their mild iritis but i can't necessarily relate.
You should study your eyes in good light(several bulbs over mirror) to learn to detect
A new iritis flare-up ie spots of redness etc. Monitor your eyes as the iritis subsides to see how redness changes.
Last edited by vancouver on Mon May 01, 2017 10:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Strange iritis pattern?
Grading:
For anterior chamber cells, in a field size of 1X1-mm slit beam, the following grades were described: 0 (< 1 cell), 0.5+ (1-5 cells), 1+ (6-15 cells), 2+ (16-25 cells), 3+ (26-50 cells), and 4+ (>50 cells).
I think trace is 1 to 5 cells. At least half of people don't find a disease to explain the iritis. It can just be bad luck. Bad gene or injury etc.
With acute iritis the cell count will get to 4+ if u don't grab the steroid out of your fridge. Most people can anticipate a flare-up and take steroids at home so their symptoms will be less severe. Some may never even have redness.
For anterior chamber cells, in a field size of 1X1-mm slit beam, the following grades were described: 0 (< 1 cell), 0.5+ (1-5 cells), 1+ (6-15 cells), 2+ (16-25 cells), 3+ (26-50 cells), and 4+ (>50 cells).
I think trace is 1 to 5 cells. At least half of people don't find a disease to explain the iritis. It can just be bad luck. Bad gene or injury etc.
With acute iritis the cell count will get to 4+ if u don't grab the steroid out of your fridge. Most people can anticipate a flare-up and take steroids at home so their symptoms will be less severe. Some may never even have redness.
Re: Strange iritis pattern?
Thank you! This is the sort of answer I have been looking for. I understand now and feel more motivated to actually take my drops. Thank you very much for this information.
Also, during the first flare up he saw he noted 3+ white blood cells I believe and a week later after using the drops he noted 1+ white blood cells. I'm not sure what that means though.
Also, during the first flare up he saw he noted 3+ white blood cells I believe and a week later after using the drops he noted 1+ white blood cells. I'm not sure what that means though.
Re: Strange iritis pattern?
Your welcome. Yes, the steroid is very very important.
For the next episode, take the steroid at beginning of attack and you won't have the red eye etc. People do respond differently to steroids. Some people need more steroid for a given level of inflammation.
For the next episode, take the steroid at beginning of attack and you won't have the red eye etc. People do respond differently to steroids. Some people need more steroid for a given level of inflammation.
Re: Strange iritis pattern?
Grade 3 to grade 1 is a big improvement but you may have achieved that simply by the self limiting nature of iritis.
Grade 1 is 6 to 15 cells. You want to get to 1 to 5 cells and then taper off the steroid. You hope that cell count will go to zero during taper. There is not much risk of eye damage at grade 1 but the goal is zero cells. Iritis tends to snowball. The doc may do a two week course of steroid even if you have zero cells to try to stop future reoccur excess.
Grade 1 is 6 to 15 cells. You want to get to 1 to 5 cells and then taper off the steroid. You hope that cell count will go to zero during taper. There is not much risk of eye damage at grade 1 but the goal is zero cells. Iritis tends to snowball. The doc may do a two week course of steroid even if you have zero cells to try to stop future reoccur excess.
Re: Strange iritis pattern?
If u are not taking steroids for the other eye that would be good sign. Suggests that you self limit to zero cells.
Re: Strange iritis pattern?
it seems that I do self limit to 0 cells. When he took a look at me between flareups he didn't even notice any sign of iritis, also when looking at my left eye during the flareup he noted the right eye was fine. Hopefully the steroids keep it in check.