Dr. Weinstock is a board-certified ophthalmologist. He practices general ophthalmology in Canton, Ohio, with a special interest in contact lenses. He holds faculty positions of Professor of Ophthalmology at the Northeastern Ohio Colleges of Medicine and Affiliate Clinical Professor in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science at Florida Atlantic University.
Andrew A. Dahl, MD, is a board-certified ophthalmologist. Dr. Dahl's educational background includes a BA with Honors and Distinction from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, and an MD from Cornell University, where he was selected for Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical honor society. He had an internal medical internship at the New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center.
Iritis is an inflammatory condition of the colored portion (the iris which
surrounds the pupil) of the eye. It causes varying degrees of redness of the
eye, often with significant pain, sensitivity to light, tearing, and blurred
vision.
What causes iritis?
Often no reason is found. An infection of the eye or inflammation from trauma
may cause iritis. Iritis may also be a complication of many diseases such as
juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, tuberculosis,
sarcoidosis, and collagen vascular diseases such as lupus. Iritis may occur with
herpes simplex of the eye and after eye surgery. Iritis related to juvenile
rheumatoid arthritis is especially dangerous and may not respond well to
treatment, leading to serious eye damage. In children with arthritis, pain from
iritis is often absent. Because of this, "simple" red eyes in these children
should not be ignored. Iritis is not contagious. Iritis may occur in one or
both eyes. Finding a cause is much more common in patients with iritis on both
eyes or iritis that recurs frequently.
What are symptoms and signs of iritis?
Iritis appears as a red, painful eye which may be accompanied by blurred
vision and sensitivity to light. In addition, the pupil of the affected eye may
be smaller than that of the healthy eye.
How is iritis diagnosed?
Diagnosis of iritis is made by the ophthalmologist. It is suspected from the
history and symptoms and then is confirmed by an exam. After measuring the
vision, the eye is inspected with a slit lamp (biomicroscope) where
microscopic cells are seen in the front part of the eye. When measuring the eye
pressure, it is often found to be lower than in the other eye.
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. Symptoms include weakness, fever, weight loss, night sweats and in worse cases, chest pain, shortness of breath, and coughing up blood. A person with an active infection (a positive TB skin test, abnormal chest x-ray and TB bacteria in their sputum) requires treatment with izoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol and pyrazinaide.
Systemic lupus erythematosus is a condition characterized by chronic inflammation of body tissues caused by autoimmune disease. Lupus can cause disease of the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, joints, and nervous
system. When only the skin is involved, the condition is called discoid lupus.
When internal organs are involved, the condition is called systemic lupus
erythematosus (SLE).
Sarcoidosis, a disease resulting from chronic inflammation, causes small lumps (granulomas) to develop in a great range of body tissues and can appear in almost any body organ. However, sarcoidosis most often starts in the lungs or lymph nodes.
Glaucoma is a common eye condition in which the fluid pressure inside the eye rises because of slowed fluid drainage from the eye. If untreated, glaucoma may damage the optic nerve and other parts of the eye, causing the loss of vision or even blindness.
Ankylosing spondylitis is a type of arthritis that causes chronic inflammation of the spine. The tendency to develop ankylosing spondylitis is genetically inherited.
Juvenile arthritis (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis or JRA) annually affects one child in every thousand. There are three types of JRA: pauciarticular (less than four joints affected), polyarticular (more than four joints affected), and systemic-onset (inflamed joints with high fevers and rash). Treatment of juvenile arthritis depends upon the type the child has and should focus on treating the symptoms that manifest.
Uveitis is inflammation of the eye. Symptoms include blurred vision, eye pain, eye redness, and floating spots before the eyes. Treatment may involve prescription eyedrops, antibiotics, and wearing dark glasses.
Scar formation is a natural part of the healing process after injury. The depth and size of the wound incision and the location of the injury impact the scar's characteristics, but your age, heredity and even sex or ethnicity will affect how your skin reacts.
Glaucoma is a disease of the major nerve of vision, called the optic nerve. The optic nerve receives light-generated nerve impulses from the retina and transmits these to the brain, where we recognize those electrical signals as vision. Glaucoma is characterized by a particular pattern of progressive damage to the optic nerve that generally begins with a subtle loss of side vision (peripheral vision). If glaucoma is not diagnosed and treated, it can progress to loss of central vision and blindness.
Glaucoma is usually, but not always, associated with elevated pressure in the eye (intraocular pressure). Generally, it is this elevated eye pressure that leads to damage of the eye (optic) nerve. In some cases, glaucoma may occur in the presence of normal eye pressure. This form of glaucoma is believed to be caused by poor regulation of blood flow to the optic nerve.
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