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Eye Problems / Iritis

Is chronic iritis/uveitis a thing? And if it is, is it obvious you have it? Can it be diagnosed by an optometrist, or just an ophthalmologist? My eyeballs have been sore for a very long time. Like, they feel bruised. I’ve gone to two different optometrists, who tell me there is nothing wrong with my eyes, other than dryness. But it doesn’t feel like a superficial problem. Eye drops don’t do anything for the pain. My eyes aren’t red, so that makes me think maybe it’s impossible for it to be iritis, but I don’t know. Can anyone who’s had issues with their eyes comment? TIA!
 
Is chronic iritis/uveitis a thing? And if it is, is it obvious you have it? Can it be diagnosed by an optometrist, or just an ophthalmologist? My eyeballs have been sore for a very long time. Like, they feel bruised. I’ve gone to two different optometrists, who tell me there is nothing wrong with my eyes, other than dryness. But it doesn’t feel like a superficial problem. Eye drops don’t do anything for the pain. My eyes aren’t red, so that makes me think maybe it’s impossible for it to be iritis, but I don’t know. Can anyone who’s had issues with their eyes comment? TIA!
You would know if you have iritis. Decreased vision and light sensitivity are the main symptoms.
 

Cross-stitch gal

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Vancouver,
I have had it and was diagnosed by my optometrist. I knew nothing about it until he mentioned it, but haven't been told anymore about my having it for years. Iritis seemed to be part of my flare and gets better when I'm not flaring. I remember being very sensitive to light, my eyes being sore all the time and they were always red. My signature has Iritis (I believe) as part of my medical history and I make sure to let my doctor know about it when I happen to see a new one. Here's a link to help you see more info...

 
I have CD and Ankylosing Spondylitis, the 2 are often connected, however the Ankylosing Spondylitis caused me terrible eye pain. It was like a stabbing,throbbing pain behind my eyes. I think AS causes inflammation all way up spinal column and neck and back of eyes.
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
My daughter had similar sounding issues to yours @Ldncrad. Sore and painful eyes to the point that she couldn’t drive some days. Multiple ophthalmology visits with no answers. One queried sjogrens, due to the dryness but eye drops did nothing.

She was also experiencing joint pain and hair loss at the time. Turns out she had a Vit D deficiency which explained the joint pain and hair loss but when a delved into things a little deeper I found a couple a more recent studies that also link dry eye syndrome to Vit D deficiency. Resolving the deficiency also resolved her troubling eye issues.
 

Tony H

Well-known member
Hi I have uc and only had two doses of iritis , its a condition that in my case got quickly worse , , the pain was off the charts and you can noticeably see it in your eyes , it was fairly easily treated with steroids and on the second occasion had to get the steroids administered directly into the eye by injection , that was over 20 years ago and all is good since then , was diagnosed by an ophthalmologist
 
Is chronic iritis/uveitis a thing? And if it is, is it obvious you have it? Can it be diagnosed by an optometrist, or just an ophthalmologist? My eyeballs have been sore for a very long time. Like, they feel bruised. I’ve gone to two different optometrists, who tell me there is nothing wrong with my eyes, other than dryness. But it doesn’t feel like a superficial problem. Eye drops don’t do anything for the pain. My eyes aren’t red, so that makes me think maybe it’s impossible for it to be iritis, but I don’t know. Can anyone who’s had issues with their eyes comment? TIA!
Hello, 15 years ago I woke up with my eyeballs on FIRE thats really what it felt like I have never had such pain like this in the eyes, I couldnt even open my eyes went to ER and later sent me to the eye doctor where he found that my eyeballs are swollen to the piont of spitting my eyeball sick, this is now a chronic thing because Crohns is the cause......My little sister from the infections in here eyes caused from crohns has eventually blinded her left eye...This is a very devisating diesease... there are a lot of us with eye issues you are not alone....
 
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