I finally have an answer...
Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 1:22 pm
After 7 years of recurrent iritis I finally have an answer to what is causing it. I went last week and saw Dr. Kim at Vanderbilt Eye Institute. He is 1 of 2 doctors in TN that was on the list recommended by this website. I had been seeing a regular opthamolagist who had been treating it as it flared up. My former dr just kept telling me that sometimes they never know what causes it. Well Dr. Kim knew within 10 minutes what the cause was. He said it was Herpes. Of course I automatically freaked out and thought the STD kind (my husband was going to have some explaining to do) but he said it is not that kind. It is the same kind that causes chicken pox and/or cold sores. Dr. Kim said every single person alive who has ever had chicken pox has the Herpes virus in their bodies. It just lays dorment in some and in others it doesn't. He wanted to go ahead and do a few tests just to make sure there wasn't any autoimmune things going on as well. So he did a needle biopsy of my eye (not fun), chest x-ray, and blood work. My blood work came back negative for anything autoimmune, including the gene HLA-B27. But the fluid he took out of my eye did test positive for Herpes. So he is putting me on Valtrex for 3-6 months. He said he hopes that with this aggresive treatment it will not come back. 1 gram (yes gram) 3 times a day. It is nice to finally have some answers.