When I started looking into this disease I was very afraid of something happening to my eyes.
I had twitching and what felt a lot like pressure, pain and sensitivity to light, occasional blurring or double vision. Wore sunglasses inside. It seemed to do better when I was on prednisone.
I went in right away to have it check out and then got annual check ups with an opthomologist who is familiar with inflammation of the eye.
My sight has deteriorated slightly, not to the point of glasses and the Dr. said just the beginnings of cataracts.
She said it can be steroids ( they can accelerate cataracts) and I have seen here on this site Enbrel is implicated. So the cure is also the cause..............At least it's not uveitis.
I am glad to have someone watching and I think we should all have checkups to preserve sight.
What have been your experiences with your eyes and this disease?
I have had a lot of the same issues you have, as well as extremely dry eye. No double vision. I've had all sorts of tests done. I've had some inflammation in my eyes, but no uveitis. Some of it seems to be trigeminal nerve inflammation (NOT trigeminal neuralgia). I have had retinal inflammation with this. Very little to no permanent damage at this point.
I have developed Sjogren's syndrome, so I am being treated for extreme dry eye, and this is going to be ongoing.
I'm on plaquenil, so I do twice yearly visits to the eye doctor, with a visual field test every time.
I am 53, she did say the back of the eyes looked good. I am just wondering if drugs or the disease itself is to blame? Looks like you have a lot going on. Sjorens's? I will have to do a little research on that. Does it often accompany Psa?
Stoney said:
I'm curious, you didn't say how old you are.
I have had a lot of the same issues you have, as well as extremely dry eye. No double vision. I've had all sorts of tests done. I've had some inflammation in my eyes, but no uveitis. Some of it seems to be trigeminal nerve inflammation (NOT trigeminal neuralgia). I have had retinal inflammation with this. Very little to no permanent damage at this point.
I have developed Sjogren's syndrome, so I am being treated for extreme dry eye, and this is going to be ongoing.
I'm on plaquenil, so I do twice yearly visits to the eye doctor, with a visual field test every time.
Cataracts are age related, but can certainly grow/appear faster with steroid use. Inflammation can attack the eyes too. I finally have the hang of this (for now) and realize that this is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder. The inflammation can attack just about anywhere, and it's pretty typical to develop additional autoimmune disorders. I wish it weren't so, but it is. Sjogren's is an autoimmune disorder with the primary features of very dry eye and mouth, but as always, there's more.
I read up a little on Sjogren's. It does seem once you have autoimmune it manifests in many different ways.
I feel like a whiner when I see how bad some folks are. But still very curious about the whole process. I believe more and more of my younger problems were directly because of auto immune. I also have terrible allergies. I feel lucky my eyes aren't worse....yet....
Dot- I'll give you my slightly warped thoughts on cataracts. I've worn glasses since I was 11 years old. I just got my first pair of glasses that include reading lenses. I've seen people get cataract surgery, and it gives them back 20/20 vision. Not such a bad deal from my perspective. Now for my mom it was different, as she had 20/20 vision and the cataracts obviously decreased that. But still, the surgery gave her back her good vision, and she just needs to wear reading glasses. So when my eye doctor told me that long-term steroid eye drops (for Sjogren's if necessary) would hasten the development of cataracts, I can't help but think it's not such a bad thing.
I was diagnosed with cataracts when I was 18 years old. Cataracts do not just effect the aging.. I wasn't diagnosed with PSA until I was 37. I have had surgery on both of my eyes and all is well with them.
I was diagnosed with PsA in May, had uveitis in June and was told that I have the beginnings of cataracts in July. It all happened quite suddenly and unexpectedly. I also have problems with dry eyes. Before last week I was not on any medications other than hormone replacement therapy following a hysterectomy, so meds are not to blame. I think I am a little younger (54) than the typical cataract population, so I don't know about age related. It seems that there are some eye problems that may accompany this disease process.
Since starting on humira, I have had 2 eye infections after which I developed what the opthamalogist is calling chronic dry eyes. He says that my PsA is causing inflammation in the tear ducts which is stopping tear production. It took a lot of trial & error to convince him that I do NOT have allergies. Now I am on Restasis & over-the-counter lubricant drops. As far as symptoms, I have dryness, light sensitivity, itching, burning, and sometimes slight pain & pressure. He did say it is not uveitis.
Thanks
it is nice to know you’re not alone and even though we are people of many variables we have new eye trouble with the worsening of the disease someday it will probably be a screening question for Psa
xvanex said:
Since starting on humira, I have had 2 eye infections after which I developed what the opthamalogist is calling chronic dry eyes. He says that my PsA is causing inflammation in the tear ducts which is stopping tear production. It took a lot of trial & error to convince him that I do NOT have allergies. Now I am on Restasis & over-the-counter lubricant drops. As far as symptoms, I have dryness, light sensitivity, itching, burning, and sometimes slight pain & pressure. He did say it is not uveitis.
hmmm now you got me thinking.... I have dry eyes, itchy, burning, sometimes I feel something in the corner of it and I look in the mirror and nothing is there. I am very sensitive to light... my husband thinks I am nuts LOL
I haven't posted yet in this thread because I didn't want to freak anyone out. My case is pretty rare. My first PsA symptom was uncontrolled uveitis, so bad the dr's thought I might lose vision in both eyes. After a year of prednisone (I was 6 years old at onset), which controlled it somewhat, I started developing cataracts, and the uveitis triggered glaucoma. I lost vision in one eye due to the glaucoma, and eventually the eye itself (I have a prosthesis), and was on several powerful drops for decades to control the inflammation in my other eye.
Oddly enough, taking Enbrel stopped my eye inflammation cold. I started taking it in late 2001, and by February, my dr. declared me inflammation free.... and I've stayed that way ever since, even since changing biologics several times in the past decade.
Be careful and get those checkups. With our bodies going haywire, you don't want to accidentally trigger off a long term cascade of problems in the eye.
BTW, another woman in my autoimmune disease group just lost her eye. It got inflamed and weak and ruptured twice, and she had to have it removed. It *is* a risk with autoimmune disease.
I have secondary Sjogren's, considered by some to be the gateway autoimmune disease. It was the first autoimmune to be confirmed out of an 'overlap syndrome' beginning. I have used Restasis, but could not tolerate it, the burn just never eased,so use OTC eye drops by the gallon. After a while you feel as though you have been using Elmers glue, water seems to be the only thing that can help this complication.
Though I am aware that this is a systemic disease, I had not encountered anyone or any information about the PsA eye.
Thanks for the heads up on this. I hope you can find a comfortable and effective treatment, Dot.