Diagnosed with retinal vasculitis

[melizzachua]

good day,
my brother 21 years old is recently diagnosed with retinal vasculitis.  We didn't know what causes it, right now he is under medication prednisone and imuran... However, we are trying to figure out the underlying cause of this sudden disease...i would like to ask for your opinion on the following:
1) just to give a background, my brother last year had a major tooth extraction which didn't go well, though he didn't have any fever, his cheek (side of tooth extraction) showed some inflammation and his whole neck showed bruises after several days...he's fine now but once in a while he still feels some pain on where the tooth was extracted, could this be a cause of retinal vasculitis?
2) for years now, my brother is experiencing some sort of sinusitis, most especially every morning when he wakes up, there mucus and blockage in his nose, does this have anything to do with retinal vasculitis?
3) he also sometimes feel pain on his left ankle (foot)
4) my brother is a medican techincian, he was exposed to several types of laboratory testing--could there be something that trigger his retinal vasculitis? if so, what are the test that we should do?
5) so far he have taken the ANA test which is negative, ESR is okay, blood counts normal except white blood cell is a little bit high, eosonophils a little low.....
6) Tissue typing result: HLA ANITGEN
A Locus 2,11
B Locus 53, 51(B)
DR Locus 8,16(2)
DQ Locus 5(1),6(1)
--so far  he is not suffering or showing signs of any major or unusual symptoms except for the floaters, color differences and some pain on his eyes at times...
base from this facts, what do you think...is retinal vasculitis curable in this case? usually how long should the medication last?
hoping you could give some light to this query
thank you and hoping for your response

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

thanks good luck
JCH MD

[melizzachua]

thanks Dr. John for your time in  answering my questions, God Bless! =)

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

1. yes
2 stress will not cause this
3sometimes but not always
4 usual can be controled or cured BUT often leaves permanent damage
5read e medicine
6yes see 5

JCH MD

[melizzachua]

thanks Dr. John, i'll have a look at www.emedicine.com

for followup questions:

1) in my brother's case what are the chances that there might be an autoimmune disease involved? he has taken some tests for autoimmune diseases and so far all has been negative...we first suspect that it might be Behcet's or Lupus but no other symptoms are present except for the retinal vasculitis?

2) Is there a possibility that the retinal vasculitis is just a "phase" and will correct itself after a while, since maybe perhaps his been exposed to a high degree of  "stress" at work and in school?  

3) Will the floaters that he's seeing and color changes be gone after it's been controlled?
4) Can the medications he's taking now be enough to cure his retinal vasculitis?
In your experience, is retinal vasculitis curable? or it is forever?
5) What are the things that we have to check once in a while?
6) Are there any alternative ways that will help minimize the inflammation aside from using steroids?
sorry for the many followup questions, we are all worried for my brother's condition, he's a good kid and person...he even has plans to continue study medicine but this happened...

hoping that you'll be able to share or shed some light in this matter.
thank you

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

None of the things you mentioned are likely to cause the retinal vasculitis. There is more we don't know about vasculitis than we know. Read the section at www.emedicine.com

Vasculitis runs from something that can destroy and eye to something that goes away without damage. Ofter later something develops like lupus or Wegener's granulomatosis.

JCH MD