Hi from France

[peebee]

Hi all, so pleased to have found this site, I’ve suffered for 40 years with Iritis off and on and like many people I’ve suffered alone. I don’t know anyone else who has had this that I can talk to so it’s wonderful to find like minded people to share experiences with and ask questions of.

I first suffered with what my doctor considered to be ‘conjunctivitis’ in 1965 aged 21. He just looked at me across his desk and wrote out a prescription for some eye drops and that was that. I was working in an office at the time and each day my eye was streaming due to the strip lights which in those days had no protective covering on. I kept on putting in the prescribed drops until I couldn’t stand the pain any longer also I couldn’t see my hand in from of my face or open my eye without suffering from the glare. My doctor just gave me more of the same drops.
The following week it was so bad I took myself to the Emergency dept. of St Paul’s Eye Hospital in Liverpool, U.K. which is near to where I was living. I was admitted straight away with Acute Iritis which had led to Secondary Glaucoma. The doctors were so angry that a G.P had tried to diagnose an eye condition like this and had actually been treating me for conjuctivitis. They told me if I had left it for another 24 hours untreated I would have lost my sight in my right eye. I was in hospital for a week and had to attend out patients clinic every day for weeks to have it checked. My eye has never been the same since as the pupil ended up stuck to the lense and is a very strange shape but at least I still had my sight although somewhat impaired in that eye. The doctors at St Paul’s told me to always go straight to a hospital if I felt that this was coming on again and they said that it most likely would as once you have it, it usually recurs. They told me that the cause maybe strip lights also to arrange for a chest Xray as Iritis can be a complication of TB. That’s as much as they told me in those days! I didn’t have TB and have never really understood why it has happened to me.

Over the years in my life it has recurred probably 10 times, maybe more. I always go to the Opthamology department and am given steroid drops and Atropine and monitored until it clears up, usually a couple of months each time.
All went well until we moved to France 4 years ago. My eye has been o.k all this time but two weeks ago I woke up with the familiar signs of Iritis again, blurred vision, very red eye, sensitivity to light and a lot of pain. I took myself off to Laval Hospital, Pays de Loire, France after first trying Mayenne Hospital who had no Opthamologists at all! I was seen straight away and prescribed Dexagrane and Atropine and Indometacene. My eye sight has developed a sort of veiled curtain across it and my vision is very blurred. I thought this was probably the effect of the drops.
Yesterday I returned to see the Opthalmologist who said that it is coming along well and I can decrease the drops but I heard her mention ‘cataract’ to her colleague. My French is not 100% by any means but I asked her if I had a cataract on this eye and she said yes. I said ‘is it possible to remove this cataract’ and she said that it was in perhaps 3 to 4 months once the Iritis has cleared up completely.

Do I presume when the Iritis has cleared up my vision will now remain very cloudy in this eye until such time that I can have surgery? Also how has this cataract developed so quickly as 3 weeks ago there was no cloudiness in my vision. Does anyone know if I need a special type of Opthalmic Surgeon to remove the cataract due to my pupil being stuck to my lens and my Iritis history and if so are there any in France near here.
My eye left is is perfectly normal and I’ve never had any problems with it although as a 6 year old child I remember being treated at St Pauls Eye hospital for a suspected Chicken Pox spot in my right eye. Could my Iritis be connected to this episode all this time ago? I sometimes get what look like small cold sore type spots in my eye lashes also on on my lids which clear up by themselves. I wonder if this too is connected and if there’s anything I can do to help myself. I have never been offered any blood tests and no-one has ever tried to find out why this happens to me.
I hope I haven’t bored everyone to tears with my story and questions but I really am concerned more than ever that I get the right treatment now that I am living in France as there doesn’t seem to be manyy Opthamologists about here only perhaps in big cities like Paris which I don’t live anywhere near.

Thanks Pat

[Mike Bartolatz]

Welcome to the group, it could well be that you have iritis related to your 'cold sores' that you talk about. the herpes virus can cause the iris to no longer function, the iris also becomes adhered to a great deal and this can result in glaucoma. the iris becomes thinned causing the appearance of it's color to lighten. holes can also become present. treatment would be with antiviral medication, Valacyclovir orally for the rest of your life with a possible need for a drop of corticosteroid daily to help keep the virus hibernating. it can move to the middle and back of the eye and this is VERY serious should it occur.
there are uveitis specialists in France, there is a list of them at http://www.uveitis.org located in the PATIENT INFORMATION section of the site
Professor William Ayliffe is located in London and I recommend that you see him if at all possible to help clear this up and to implement a STEROID SPARING approach to treatment.
you asked about cataract surgery and usually one waits until vision is impaired to at least 20/80 when one has a history of uveitis as the trauma A given cause of renewed inflammation which can be very difficult to stop. one also has to have their eyes quiet for at least three months before surgery to help prevent renewed inflammation. treatment with corticosteroids prior to surgery must also be done. a new steroid called Durezol works very well to help keep the eye quieted down for cataract surgery.
one of these specialists can inform you as to when to get the surgery performed and most can do it as well.

I hope this helps,
Mike