Iritis is the inflammatory condition affecting the iris of the eye. The iris is responsible for controlling the amount of light entering the eye by contracting the muscles around the pupil making it smaller. When the light conditions change, the muscles relax allowing the pupil to dilate, so we can see better in a low light settings. Iritis of the eye is considered a type of anterior uveitis or, in other words, inflammation of the middle part of the eye.
In some cases the iritis of the eye is caused by a head or eye trauma, which subsequently causes iritis symptoms. In other cases, iritis symptoms are caused by major pre-existing inflammatory conditions like lupus, irritable bowel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, Reiter syndrome, Chron’s disease, anklylosing spondylitis. Therefore, it’s vital to establish if iritis of the eye is just a secondary symptom of a more serious illness, so a proper treatment is prescribed. Another group of possible causes for iritis is infectious diseases like herpes, Lyme disease, tuberculosis and syphilis.
Iritis symptoms include redness of the eye especially around the iris, light sensitivity, eye pain and blurring of vision. Oftentimes iritis of the eye symptoms are confused with conjunctivitis, the only difference is the level of the pain that is experienced with iritis is much severe as deeper eye tissues and fibers are affected.
Iritis treatment includes pupil dilating drops to help eye muscles relax combined with anti-inflammatory steroid eye drops. A course of oral steroids might be recommended if the condition does not improve.
Chronic iritis cases are usually associated with some inflammatory conditions that affect all major organs and tissues and require special attention and strategic treatments.
The earlier iritis of the eye is diagnosed and the faster the proper treatment is prescribed, the less eye damage it will cause.