At Augenland Frankfurt, the doctors deal every day with various diseases that they are to diagnose and treat as well as possible for the patients. As a rule, it is assumed by the affected persons that they have a single illness and receive a single diagnosis. Many common eye problems indeed usually occur in isolation.
The diagnosis is somewhat more complicated with the so-called uveitis, in Germany also referred to as inflammation of the iris (Regenbogenhautentzündung). For it is a frequent accompanying manifestation of other complaints: in more than half of the 100,000 cases in which uveitis occurs in Germany, the patient has already previously been ill and the uveitis arises as a concomitant disease.
As one can tell from this, it is also important for medicine and of course for us at Augenland Frankfurt to work interdisciplinarily with other doctors in order to understand the body as a whole as well as possible. Therefore, in the conversations with you, our doctors do not necessarily limit themselves to your eyes, but can also ask about other medical findings.
But why do other diseases make the eye so sensitive to inflammations? Many of the illnesses that typically lead to uveitis have, at first glance, nothing to do with the eyes: rheumatism and multiple sclerosis are known for the fact that those affected by them have an increased risk of uveitis. The same applies to arthritis and Crohn’s disease and the lung disease sarcoidosis. Typically at risk, however, are people who are already affected by inflammations—arthritis is an inflammation of the joints, Crohn’s disease an inflammation of the intestine, many of the spinal diseases referred to as rheumatism are inflammatory, and multiple sclerosis is an inflammation of the nervous system.
So does uveitis always arise because the body reacts to an infection by bacteria, viruses, or fungi with an inflammatory reaction?
No. Only in about 40% of inflammations of the iris is such a cause ascertainable. Also among the illnesses listed above, in the accompaniment of which uveitis often forms, some inflammatory reactions are the result of an infection. Many, however, are also inflammations—that is, reactions of the immune system—without a triggering pathogen being diagnosable. According to the current state of research, these are autoimmune diseases. That means the body mistakenly assumes it must fight a pathogen and therefore triggers an inflammation at a site. Some immune systems tend to do this more often than others. Potentially they can become active at any place in the body. This also explains why diseases such as an inflammation of the eyes so often occur simultaneously with inflammations in completely different places in the body such as the intestine, the lungs, the spine, and the joints.
Uveitis itself is a collective term for inflammations occurring in the eye at the middle ocular coat (called the uvea). Because the iris—also called the rainbow membrane (Regenbogenhaut)—is often affected, it is also called inflammation of the iris (Regenbogenhautentzündung). Depending on whether it is an anterior, intermediate, or posterior uveitis, the symptoms are also different. In any case, it is advisable, in the event of restrictions in the visual field or even pain in the eye, to arrange an appointment with us at Augenland Frankfurt as soon as possible. Uveitis can quickly be confused with another form of illness, for example conjunctivitis. For the correct treatment, however, a diagnosis is indispensable. Treatment is carried out depending on the form of uveitis: if it is the result of an infection, antibiotics are administered. In the more frequent autoimmune form, the overreaction of the immune system can be countered with other medications. Usually, however, eye ointments or drops that cause the inflammation to subside are sufficient.
If you have any further questions, Augenland Frankfurt will be happy to advise you.
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