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Iritis

anyone else here experience iritis? what kind of treatment did you receive?

before i was diagnosed with crohn's i had noticed changes in my eyes... such as much more sensitivity and them feeling strained/tired all the time...also the skin on my eye lids changed, becoming more sensitive so when i wore a certain makeup i'd get a reaction (i.e. red puffy eye lid and flaky skin)...

now, since being off of pred, my symptoms have been coming back with a vengeance and the eye problems have gotten worse...

today my rheumotologist said the pain and redness in my eyes is Iritis... i knew the crohn's caused my eye problems before, but this is the worst it's been (also my erythema nodosum is at it's worse).

i've been referred to an eye specialist, but i wish i could do something about this eye inflammation now, as it makes it hard for me to keep my eyes open or do as much work on the computer...
 
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crap i was reading a bit about Iritis, and one of the treatment options is oral steroids (i.e. prednisone).... ARGH! i hope they don't try to prescribe me that.
 
They will probably give you steroids in the form of eyedrops. How long until you can see an opthamologist? Sometimes people with iritis have a sensitivity to light. Even if you start to feel better keep all your appointments with the opthamologist because iritis can flare up again after being treated and your doctor will want to make sure that it is completely resolved before stopping your treatment. Good Luck
 
Hmmm, my vision has been a bit blurry from time to time. I have always had a "goo" problem I guess you could call it. Like most people get the hard chuncky stuff in thier eyes, mine is like slime that when i rub my eye and take it out it comes out in like a slimey string. Is that one of the symptoms? I always thought maybe it was the type of eye liner I was useing but I have changed many times and the "goo" was still there.
 
My experience has been with 'episcleritis' inflammation of the white of the eyes. I think this might be less painful than 'iritis' since my Crohns diagnosis back in July '07 I've only had two episodes and on both occasions was prescribed 'Voltaren Optha' eye drops which stings like crazy. It takes a while before it clears up though. I only have the redness and sometimes looks like mini bumps forming on the sclere of my eyes and there's a dull pain but no sensitivity to light though.
Cheecky, I hope your iritis clears up soon!
 
Daisy G said:
My experience has been with 'episcleritis' inflammation of the white of the eyes. I think this might be less painful than 'iritis' since my Crohns diagnosis back in July '07 I've only had two episodes and on both occasions was prescribed 'Voltaren Optha' eye drops which stings like crazy. It takes a while before it clears up though. I only have the redness and sometimes looks like mini bumps forming on the sclere of my eyes and there's a dull pain but no sensitivity to light though.
Cheecky, I hope your iritis clears up soon!

well i was advised to go to emerg yesterday since i wasn't going to get to see my specialist right away... more than one doctor kept saying i had iritis but when they did further testing, the eye clinic said it's actually episcleritis or scleritis...

they prescribed me prednisolone drops... which have already helped.

you're right, the pain isn't so bad with episcleritis or scleritis, but i was experiencing some burning, tearing, discomfort, tiredness/strain and a little blurry vision. it's just my left eye afftected.

i hope this doesn't come back anytime soon cuz i didn't go to work for 2 days and am not able to turn in my major essay for school tomorrow.... i'm very frustrated with the crohn's symptoms having bad timing with my school work. i haven't handed in any assignments on time and was hoping i'd get this one in on time.


also, my erythema nodosum is on FIRE! omgggg...it's NEVER been this bad before... my legs look like i've been brutally attacked and are just very sore to the point i walk funny.
 
sorry to hear about the school project, I rememebr how bad things got disrupted for me in school, but the Dr's around here never paid attention to me back then soo... just hang in there, I am sure the school will work with you on it and they should be alot more understanding with you since you have a diagnosis :)
 
cheeky said:
crap i was reading a bit about Iritis, and one of the treatment options is oral steroids (i.e. prednisone).... ARGH! i hope they don't try to prescribe me that.

I have iritis been over 10 years now. The Dr. told me if I had a transplant that
I would have an 85 % chance of seeing again. So I had the transplant and
within 6 months the viris came back. So now I just deal with it like my crohns,
some days I can see good and other days I cant.

I was on the pred. eye drops also for quite some time. I know that I will
never have that kind of surgery again. Talk about painful.

Even to this day my left eye can not tolerate sunlight.or brightness.


I have one contact lens but it is useless due to my change of vision from
day to day,same as my glasses.

Least I still have one good eye at the moment.
 
TammySue62 said:
I have iritis been over 10 years now. The Dr. told me if I had a transplant that
I would have an 85 % chance of seeing again. So I had the transplant and
within 6 months the viris came back. So now I just deal with it like my crohns,
some days I can see good and other days I cant.

I was on the pred. eye drops also for quite some time. I know that I will
never have that kind of surgery again. Talk about painful.

Even to this day my left eye can not tolerate sunlight.or brightness.


I have one contact lens but it is useless due to my change of vision from
day to day,same as my glasses.

Least I still have one good eye at the moment.

wow, sorry that you had this experience with the transplant... your doctor was wrong for suggesting a transplant as it makes no sense to do that surgery to correct the Iritis, since the Iritis is linked to your Crohn's which is a systemic disease.

therefore, no cure.... the Iritis will be there along with Crohn's but can go into remission too... and can be treated. that's what my understanding of it has been.

good luck to you.
 
mRae85 said:
sorry to hear about the school project, I rememebr how bad things got disrupted for me in school, but the Dr's around here never paid attention to me back then soo... just hang in there, I am sure the school will work with you on it and they should be alot more understanding with you since you have a diagnosis :)
thanks for the support... everything will be okay, since being on the eye drops my eye is better and i did explain things to my instructor and she is okay with me turning in my essay later.... i'm not sure if she'll deduct marks for lateness though...hope not since i provided a note from the hospital.
 
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