Iritis...

[IROC]

So last Thursday (5/11) I woke up with some redness in my right eye. Not tremendously unusual, but it didn't go away as the day went on and by late afternoon I started having some pain in my eye socket/temple area (almost like a sinus headache). I also had some serious light sensitivity.

By the time I got home from work, my eye doctor's office was closed, so the wife suggested one of these online doctors (which was a very pleasant experience - I highly recommend). My usual MO is "wait and see what happens - it will get better", but this felt different. Anyway, the online doc was concerned and suggested I call my eye doctor's after-hours number and if I couldn't reach them to go to the emergency room. (?!?!)

Really?

So, I leave a message with my eye doctor's office and he calls me back Thursday evening and after hearing my story asks if I can meet him at his office before they open in the morning. I'm like..."uhh...yeah, sure".

Turns out I have iritis in my right eye. Inflammation of the fluid around the iris. Mine was "Stage 4+" and my iris had already "stuck" to my lens. By Saturday, my right eye was essentially useless. So cloudy I couldn't see out of it. One week later and hundreds of dollars of steroid drops, dilation drops and pressure-reducing drops later I am returning to normal but am not out of the woods yet.

Moral of the story (and something new I learned) - take any sort of pain in the eye seriously. As I've learned more about this, pain/light sensitivity in the eye is never good and if not caught early, can have serious consequences (like loss of sight).

Here's a pic from the afternoon of 5/12 when it actually looked pretty good (it looked like something out of a horror flic that morning):

[widgeon13]

scary, glad it turned out ok.

[GH85Carrera]

Scary stuff. Any clue as to what caused it? Just the one eye?

The good news is of course medical science. Just a few decades back you could well have lost that eye.

[masraum]

Wow, glad you caught it and things are improving/looking up! Thanks for the warning too.

[shadowjack1]

Thanks for the heads up. That is scary.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Scary stuff. Any clue as to what caused it? Just the one eye?

Just one eye. That is pretty common. No underlying cause and evidently about 40% of the time that is the case. Evidently iritis can result from having an auto-immune disease. My eye doctor asked me if I had an auto-immune disease and I replied, "Uh, I don't think so.". He chuckled and said, "Um...you'd know if you had one."

[vash]

really? did we REALLY need that pic?

ouch, and now thanks for the sympathy pain symptoms.

heal up quick bud.

[RKDinOKC]

Had that before when younger. Hurt like all get out. It got better fairly quickly.

[Danimal16]

Man, I am glad you are on the mend!

[Tobra]

Stuff like this is why I am a foot doctor.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Stuff like this is why I am a foot doctor.

Yea, like foot problems are prettier! Yuck.

I am so happy that doctors pick a speciality and are experts. Dermatology makes sense as something not bad. I am happy there are proctologist and lower GI specialists but why would anyone want to work on buttholes all the time?

Glad you like podiatry. Someone has to.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Dermatology makes sense as something not bad.

Are you sure about that?

I am happy there are proctologist and lower GI specialists but why would anyone want to work on buttholes all the time?

OK, I'm with you there. That's got to be just about the absolute worst with urology and gynecology coming in a close second. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what the rest of you are thinking/saying, but it's not like as a gyno all of your patients are 18-25 year old hotties. Most of them are old, fat and ugly with the random smelly and/or covered in sores thrown in for good measure.

[GH85Carrera]

Most of those skin problems are nothing the average skin doc will ever see.

I used to process film for a living. One of our customers was a gynecologist that was writing a book on vaginal diseases. He shot 35 mm slides and his practice was to specialize in the problem women that regular docs could not help. I had to look at them to mount the slides. It almost made me celibate.

Another doc was an oral surgeon and doing a textbook on mouth diseases and tooth issues. That just about made me celibate as well.

[Tobra]

Dude, cut open an eyeball? Creepy. Saw a movie with Vincent Price when I was a kid where his victim's eyeball got sliced open. Yes, I know it was probably a grape or something, but the idea of working on someones eye freaks me out a little.

Inside of someone's mouth, yuck.

People are always glad to see my ass, come in hurting and walk out feeling better. I never will have to tell someone their mother is going to die, don't want to deal with that.

Gynecologist or proctologist wouild be bad. Cosmetic surgeon would deal with people that are crazy

[gsxrken]

Glad it looks like you'll be ok. My father has had several bouts with it over the past few years and has to go back on the drops for it, but he has always gotten clear of it. Evidently if you e had it once you're much more likely to get it again so err, keep an eye out for it.

[Holger]

Had something similar two weeks ago. Had to put a drop into each eye four times a day for two weeks.
Virus or bacteria, in my case it was a virus and it can be extremely contagious. The doc wanted me to stay at home and indoor for a week.