Uveitis is a pathology characterized by inflammation of the uvea, the intermediate layer of ocular tissue located between the sclera and the retina. According to portals such as the Mayo Clinic, this disease manifests itself with redness of the eye, blurred vision and pain. Also, it tends to get worse quickly.
As medical studies show, the chronic form of this disorder is associated with complications such as glaucoma or retinal detachment. Therefore, it is essential to know its signs, diagnosis and treatment. Discover them!
What is uveitis?
Uveitis is a form of eye inflammation. The uvea is the intermediate ocular lamina and, therefore, is highly irrigated with blood capillaries. In fact, it is through these channels that the immune cells that provoke the undesirable inflammatory response can enter.
The Portal ClĂnic Barcelona medical page provides us with some very interesting data regarding the distribution of uveitis. Some of them are the following:
This eye disorder is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a rare disease.
Together with diabetes mellitus, uveitis is the main cause of blindness in the active working age group, which translates into a high socioeconomic impact.
In the United States, 10% of all cases of blindness are caused by uveitis. In Spain, an estimated 47,000 people are affected by the disease.
All these figures reveal that it is a much more widespread disorder than could be considered in the first place. In addition, the aforementioned portal indicates that there are different types of uveitis depending on the place of involvement. These are as follows:
Iritis: affects the front of the eye. It is accompanied by eye redness, pain, and photophobia (rejection of light).
Intermediate uveitis: in this case the gelatinous substance that gives the eye tone and that fills the vitreous cavity (vitreous humor) becomes inflamed. Clusters of “snowballs” can form in this substance, that is, clusters of floating inflammatory cells.
Posterior uveitis: inflammation of the retina or choroids.
Panuveitis: when the disease manifests itself in both the front and back of the eye.
Once we have described the incidence of this disease in the general population and the possible subtypes, it is time to dive into the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
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