Iritis

# Overview
Iritis is a form of anterior uveitis and refers to the inflammation of the iris of the eye.

# Types
There are two main types of iritis: acute and chronic.
Acute iritis is a type of iritis that can heal independently within a few weeks. If treatment is provided, acute iritis improves quickly. Chronic iritis can exist for months or years before recovery occurs. Chronic iritis does not respond to treatment as well as acute iritis does. Chronic iritis is also accompanied by a higher risk of serious visual impairment.

# Signs and symptoms
- Ocular and periorbital pain
- Photophobia
- Consensual photophobia (pain in affected eye when light is shone in unaffected eye)
- Blurred or cloudy vision
- Reddened eye, especially adjacent to the iris
- White blood cells (leukocytes) (resulting in a grey or near-white haze) and protein (resulting in tiny white dots) in the anterior chamber, often called "cells and flare."
- Synechia or adhesion of iris to lens or cornea

# Causes

## Life Threatening Causes
- Sarcoidosis
- Syphilis
- Tuberculosis
- Toxoplasmosis
- Wegener's granulomatosis

## Common Causes
- Ankylosing spondylitis
- HLA-B27 disorder
- Meclofenamate
- Medrysone
- Trametinib
- Tetracaine
- Behcet's disease
- Crohn's disease
- Systemic lupus erythematosus
- Reiter's disease
- Chronic psoriasis
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Sarcoidosis
- Scleroderma
- Ulcerative colitis

## Causes by Organ System

## Causes in Alphabetical Order
- Alezzandrini syndrome
- Ankylosing spondylitis
- Autoimmune retinal vasculitis
- Behcet's disease
- Birdshot retinochoroidopathy
- Blau syndrome
- Blunt trauma
- Box jellyfish poisoning
- Cat scratch fever
- Charlin's syndrome
- Chronic psoriasis
- Connective tissue diseases
- Crohn's disease
- Dabrafenib
- Dermatostomatitis
- Etidronate
- Euphorbiaceae
- Fomivirsen sodium
- Foreign body
- Fuchs' heterochromic cyclitis
- Granulomatosis with polyangiitis
- Heerfordt-waldenstroem syndrome
- Herpes simplex
- Herpes zoster
- Hla-b27 disorder
- Htlv-1
- Incontinentia pigmenti
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Juvenile chronic arthritis
- Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
- Lepromatous leprosy
- Leptospirosis
- Lyme disease
- Malaria
- Meclofenamate
- Medrysone
- Multiple sclerosis
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis
- Ocular ischemic syndrome
- Onchocerciasis
- Pars planitis
- Pembrolizumab
- Phosgene oxime
- Polychondritis
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Reactive arthritis
- Reiter's disease
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Rheumatoid disease
- Rifabutin
- Sarcoidosis
- Scleroderma
- Secondary syphilis
- Stevens-johnson syndrome
- Still's disease
- Sympathetic ophthalmitis
- Syphilis
- Systemic lupus erythematosus
- Tetracaine
- Toxocariasis
- Toxoplasmosis
- Trametinib
- Tuberculosis
- Ulcerative colitis
- Ulcerative proctosigmoiditis
- Vemurafenib
- Vogt-koyanagi-harada syndrome
- Wegener's granulomatosis
- Weil's syndrome

# Complications
Complications of iritis may include the following: Cataract, glaucoma, corneal calcification, posterior uveitis, blindness, band keratopathy, and cystoid macular oedema.

# Treatment
- Steroid anti-inflammatory eye drops (such as prednisolone acetate)
- Dilating eye drops (to help prevent synechia and reduce photophobia)
- Pressure-reducing eye drops (such as brimonidine tartrate)
- Oral steroids (such as prednisone)
- Subconjunctival steroid injections
- Steroid-sparing agents such as methotrexate (for prolonged, chronic iritis)