"Uveitis is the general name given to an inflammation of part of the uveal tract of the eye. The uveal tract is a group of connected structures inside the eye, made up of the iris (coloured part of the eye), the ciliary body (ring of muscle behind the iris) and the choroid (layer of tissue that supports the retina).
There are different types of uveitis, depending on which part of the eye is affected:
- Anterior uveitis - inflammation of the iris (iritis) or inflammation of the iris and the ciliary body (iridocyclitis). This is the most common type of uveitis, accounting for 75% of cases (1).
- Intermediate uveitis - this affects the area behind the ciliary body, as well as the retina and the most forward edge of the retina.
- Posterior uveitis - this affects the area at the back of the eye, the choroids, and the retina.
- Panuveitis uveitis - the entire uveal tract is affected.
Uveitis can be acute and short-lived, or chronic and recurrent. Uveitis is a serious condition. If it is not treated, eyesight can be seriously damaged." Source NHS website
When I returned to London in January 2004 after spending a rather misty eyed Christmas with my family in Dublin, I really didn't know what uveitis was. I sort of assumed that if it was something serious they would have explained it to me, but when I left the hospital just before Christmas they gave me no indicator. When I met with various relatives and friends over the Christmas in Dublin and London they all expressed shock at my appearance and concern about the appearance of my eyes. They all had stories to tell about people they knew that had had eye conditions (that's JUST what I needed to hear!) which doctors had failed to acknowledge that had led to more serious problems. I vowed to ask my doctors questions but I noticed that the steroids I was taking seemed to be settling my eyes so I assumed I was 'cured'.
When I returned to hospital a few weeks into January, I was expecting to be told that I was fine, but was told instead that I now had uveitis in both eyes! There were a crowd of doctors and student doctors looking at my eye under the microscope thing that they use and making a lot of oohs and ahhs and 'Do you see what I mean?' and I heard the word 'attack' several times.
'Attack? Er, I thought I had an eye infection? Do you mind explaining what is going on here?' I demanded.
'Your immune system is attacking your eyes because it thinks that they are foreign bodies. For some reason your immune system is not doing what it is supposed to do, hence your uveitis' the doctor explained.
The room spun around me and I felt like I wanted to throw up everywhere as I imagined my eyes being killed off. It explained why my eye sight had deteriorated so rapidly.
'Can you fix this? Is there a cure?' I asked.
And then they explained that uveitis is normally triggered by something else going on in the body and I felt myself stiffen in alarm and the slow realisation that my whole life was about to change irrevocably. Seemingly uveitus is normally triggered by diseases like arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, and others including sarcoidosis. They sent me for a blood test and told me not to feel nervous. 'Ha!' I thought. 'You've obviously never been told stuff like this before!'.
I went home and typed 'uveitis' into Google and I cried for hours afterwards, inconsolable with the shock of what was going on wih my eyes. I read about how this eye disease, left unattended could severely reduce my vision or in the worst case scenario blind me and I said every frickin swear word under the sun that day. Disease....and there was me thinking I had an eye infection that would go away?
As I wrung my hands in frustration, I felt that small little bobbly lump in the little finger on my left hand that I had noticed several months back and pushed it to the back of my mind.
