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Uveitis - Management
When should I suspect uveitis?

  • Clinical features of uveitis vary depending on the location of the inflammation. They include:
    • Pain in one or both eyes (pain may be worse when the person is reading and otherwise contracting the ciliary muscle).
    • Red eye (this is not always present).
    • Diminished or blurred vision (although vision may be normal but become impaired later).
    • Watering of the eye.
    • Photophobia.
    • Flashes and floaters.
    • An unreactive or irregular-shaped pupil resulting from previous attacks (although this is not easy to see in primary care).
  • Symptoms may develop over hours or days (acute uveitis), or onset may be gradual (chronic uveitis).
    • If the person has had uveitis before, they may feel the symptoms coming on before the signs are present.
  • People with chronic uveitis are more likely to experience milder inflammatory symptoms:
    • Mildly red eye or normal-looking eye.
    • Mild pain with photophobia.
  • Uveitis is more likely if the person has risk factors for uveitis (for example a history of attacks) and other eye conditions have been excluded.
  • If uveitis is suspected, refer the person to an ophthalmologist for same-day assessment to confirm the diagnosis and for treatment.
    • Uveitis cannot be diagnosed without slit-lamp examination.
    • Slit-lamp examination will show inflammatory cells that may aggregate to form 'snowballs'.

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