November 19, 2021
Just as in adults, children can also have uveitis and ophthalmologist Vasco Miranda explains the symptoms:
They can, as in adults, cause red eyes, pain and a sudden worsening of sensitivity to light, but most of the time they do not cause anything. Children do not complain, the eye looks normal and in these cases it is either detected in an ophthalmology consultation, through a microscopic evaluation or it is only detected when there are already lesions inside the eye, due to having had uveitis for too long.
So in those cases where it goes undetected and untreated, problems can arise in the eye such as cataracts, damage to the cornea, retina and optic nerve. The pupils may become differently sized or, between eyes move badly, the pressure inside the eye may go too high or too low, and the end result is poor vision, possibly forever.
There are multiple possible causes that can be proved by infections, or it can be caused because the child's own immune system decides to attack the eye instead of attacking external agents.
And in these cases, the eye tends not to be the only place affected. It is not unusual for these children to be referred by their paediatrician because they have inflammations in the joints, the intestines and the skin. And the most frequent rheumatological disease in childhood, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, is also the most frequent cause of uveitis in children. So, when uveitis is caused by infections, it is treated by treating the infection that causes it. When they are caused by a dysfunction of the neurological system, they are not cured, they are treated by attenuating the response of the immune system with immunosuppressive medication, and, if they follow these indications correctly and are well monitored by ophthalmologists and paediatric rheumatologists, these children can continue to see well for many, many years or decades.
This and other advice is available on the TSF website.
With the support of the Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology.
