Hi guys,
The weekends are finally here, for the lot of us, we are just happy to go to sleep and not be on the lookout for another work day tomorrow. For others it is a time to hit the club or spots or just spend quality time with family and for some others it is that time to see their beloved and probably binge-watch a movie.
Whichever it may be for you, it is a time for a good quality time whether enjoying this alone with yourself and others, you get to have a stress-free time and for that, we all ought to be grateful. So to kick start our fun weekend, I wanted to quickly talk about a condition that i quite common and yet not so common and has the potential to cause blindness but is not much of a focus.
The Possible Complications of Uveitis
Before you panic because I mentioned blindness, there is a reason why it is not a big focus like Glaucoma around the world. This is because it is very much treatable and the chances of one losing their sight to uveitis, well is not so high because uveitis is uncomfortable, unlike Glaucoma. It would give you signs, symptoms, pains, and discomfort including a reduction in vision which would send you to the doctor.
The only thing here to notice is the going to see the eye doctor part, which some individuals may decide to skip because they believe they can endure pain or that whatever they may be experiencing will pass and that they just have to wait it out. The worst is those who just rush to the pharmacy to get any eye drop for their eye hoping that it would cure whatever may be going on with their eye.
They forget that like the body every condition or situation has a particular treatment plan and the fact that a drug may be a pill doesn't mean every pill will solve every problem. In the same vein, every eye drop is not the same and what that means is that simply buying an eye drop and using it on the eye without proper assessment and care wouldn't solve your issues. If anything you would get a false sense of security, and leave things hanging until it's too late.
Uveitis is simply an inflammatory condition that could affect the anterior or posterior segments of the eye and can easily be treated with the necessary eye drops and oral medications where need be, however, one could suffer from complications of media opacities or cataracts which would drastically reduce your vision or even retinal detachment which would result in complete loss of vision when it's not treated and left unattended.
Conclusion
My intention is not to scare you into going for an eye checkup but simply to make the facts bare before you. It would hurt a lot and I have seen how patients react to some of these issues when I have to tell them that their waiting it off has resulted in their current situation and that nothing can be done for them at this point to improve their vision.
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Do not let it be you, it is better safe than sorry, or as the cliche goes, prevention is better than cure. What you think could be nothing, could actually be something, do not play cards with your vision, talk to a professional when in doubt, and do right by yourself and your vision always.
Further Reading
Tsirouki T, Dastiridou A, Symeonidis C, Tounakaki O, Brazitikou I, Kalogeropoulos C, Androudi S. A Focus on the Epidemiology of Uveitis. Ocul Immunol Inflamm. 2018;26(1):2-16. doi: 10.1080/09273948.2016.1196713. Epub 2016 Jul 28. PMID: 27467180.
Teo AYT, Betzler BK, Hua KLQ, Chen EJ, Gupta V, Agrawal R. Intermediate Uveitis: A Review. Ocul Immunol Inflamm. 2023 Jul;31(5):1041-1060. doi: 10.1080/09273948.2022.2070503. Epub 2022 Jun 27. PMID: 35759636.
Gamalero L, Simonini G, Ferrara G, Polizzi S, Giani T, Cimaz R. Evidence-Based Treatment for Uveitis. Isr Med Assoc J. 2019 Jul;21(7):475-479. PMID: 31507124.
Wildner G, Diedrichs-Möhring M. Resolution of uveitis. Semin Immunopathol. 2019 Nov;41(6):727-736. doi: 10.1007/s00281-019-00758-z. Epub 2019 Oct 7. PMID: 31591678.