Uveitis

Prevention

Other than avoiding certain infections, including syphilis or HIV, there is no way to prevent uveitis.

Treatment

Treatment of uveitis focuses on reducing inflammation and relieving pain. If you have an infection, your doctor will prescribe antibiotics. For noninfectious uveitis, treatment will usually include prescription eye drops or ointments containing corticosteroids to reduce inflammation. If uveitis affects the iris, eye drops that dilate the pupil also may be prescribed so that the iris won't move and cause pain. Your doctor may recommend sunglasses because bright light may cause discomfort. For more severe cases, your ophthalmologist may recommend injections of corticosteroids into the eye, oral forms of corticosteroids or additional immunosuppressive medications. Examples of immunosuppressive therapies used in the treatment of uveitis include methotrexate, azathioprine, and mycophenolate mofetil. There are new options available to treat people with severe uveitis that does not respond to other therapies. These include etanercept or adalimumab (injected under the skin), intravenous infliximab injections, or steroid implants surgically inserted into the eye.

Any complications of uveitis, such as glaucoma or cataracts, also will need to be treated. For many patients, a team of physicians will be involved, including a general medical physician, an ophthalmologist, and sometimes other specialists (for example, infectious disease or arthritis experts).