What is anterior uveitis?
Anterior uveitis (also known as iritis) is an inflammatory condition affecting the front part of the eye (around the iris). One in every three patients will have recurrent attacks. Although it usually affects one eye at time, both eyes can be affected at the same time, or one eye shortly after the other.
In approximately 50% of cases, no cause can be found. In other cases it is caused by injury or infection. Some patients with anterior uveitis may also have inflammation elsewhere in the body e.g. ankylosing spondylitis, inflammatory bowel disease, sarcoidosis. Around half of patients with anterior uveitis are born with a genetic variant known as Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) B27 which makes them more likely to develop the condition.
Acute anterior uveitis usually comes on suddenly, producing a dull ache, redness, light intolerance and blurred vision in one eye.
How is anterior uveitis managed?
Provided that there is no serious effect on vision, severe pain or raised eye pressure, or inflammation affecting other parts of the eye, the optometrist will usually prescribe steroid drops to control the inflammation, plus other drops to relax the pupil by widening it and arrange an early follow-up appointment.
If there is no improvement within one week, they will refer the patient urgently to the ophthalmologist. The ophthalmologist will prescribe other drugs as necessary to dampen down the inflammation and to deal with other problems such as raised eye pressure.
If the uveitis comes back later, investigations including blood tests and X-rays will usually be ordered to look for underlying inflammation elsewhere in the body. Controlling that inflammation may help to prevent further attacks of uveitis.
