wrong eye diagnosis?

[genavive]

My husband went to our GP a month ago with a swollen red eye  and tremendous eye pain and the doctor said he had conjunctivitis.  After a three day application of an antibiotic, his eye was no better.  The GP referred him to an eye doctor who gave him another round of eye drops.  A week later the pain was so bad that my husband had to take hydrocodone and still had no relief....the eye doctor gave him a 3rd antibiotic to apply for a week and the eye still did not improve.  The eye doctor then had my husband go for blood tests for hlab-27.  The blood tests came back negative.  This is now the 4th week and his eye still is swollen and red with no improvement.  Other than the red eyeball, pain in the eye and  the swollen area around the eye, he has no other symptoms. ....no itching, no yellow crusty mucus....He says he can feel fine one minute and then the next minute it feels like someone is stabbing him in the eye.
My husband has just about given up and doesn't want to go back to either doctor.  
Could you tell me what the eye doctor was looking for in a hlab-27 test and also, which direction should my husband go in, now?  I'm beginning to think he needs an mri.  
Thanks!

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear genavive,

I would recommend that you seek the care of an eyeMD who specializes in the cornea. The doctor who ordered the HLAB27 was looking for an association with inflammation in the eye.  There are a number of conditions which can be associated with the symptoms you describe including herpes infections of the eye, herpes zoster or simplex, changes that occur with diabetes, trigeminal neuralgia, tumors, prior irradiation treatment, incomplete eyelid closure,and trauma of the eye.  However, a complete eye examination should be performed to determine the cause of his symptoms.  I would recommend that he continue to seek an eyeMD care if his symptoms persist.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California

[dukey]

Your doctor is testing for uveitis with the HLAB-27. It sounds like you are in the UK (GP gives it away every time!) so I would get to Moorefields straight away and get a diagnosis. Don't mess about. It appears to me that not all uveitis is HLAB-27 positive so this is not a definitive test for this problem.