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Eye Care Archive (Expert Forum)
Scleritis has me worried
Our Ask A Doctor Ophthalmology Forum is where you can post your question and receive a personal answer from physicians affiliated with the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Scleritis has me worried
by Aquinnah, Jan 16, 2006 12:00AM
Over christmas period I developed a red and mildly painful eye.It was tender as well as pain around like a mild tooth ache. I quickly got medical assistance. At first it was thought to be episcleritis, but when testing with eyedrops it turned out to be scleritis. Luckily I don't have severe pain and I think it is gradually reducing. I took Ibuprofen 400mg for 3 days (which I had been given). I was sent for a blood test to check for autoimmune disease etc, which all came back normal except my liver enzymes were up (this was early in the New year and I had had slightly more to drink on NYEve than I usually do, but not wildly excessive). As I don't have severe pain it was just left, and it is not really tender any more. So I have been lucky. However, I still do have a red patch ( it is now 3 weeks since it all started) and I worry about recurrance. Does anyone know what the risks are? Having read up about this condition I don't like the sound of it.
Doctor's Answer
by Forum-OD-MP, Jan 16, 2006 12:00AM
scleritis is not very nice. it is usually recurrent, and maybe 1/2 the time or so related to some systemic disease (although obviously the other 1/2 of the time it is separate from any systemic problem).
keep monitoring it closely with freqent visits to the eye doc. worrying certainly wont help!
good luck
keep monitoring it closely with freqent visits to the eye doc. worrying certainly wont help!
good luck
I am just wondering if a mistake could have been made re my having scleritis as opposed to episcleritis. The basis on which that diagnosis was made was that a patch of redness did not disappear when Phenylephrine was applied, but remained quite distinct (I could clearly see it myself) However much else seemed to be like episcleritis, eg fairly sudden onset, slight tenderness and ache, and though I did take ibuprofen I did so for only 3 days. It all started on 26/12/05, just over 3 weeks ago and though much of the general redness has gone I still do have a distinct red patch, which it may be fading. Hard to tell now as it is all very slow.Though I think I feel some discomfort (or is it me being hyperalert) certainly there is no severe boring pain.