Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis may suffer from various eye problems like dry eyes, episcleritis, scleritis, or uveitis.
Eye symptoms include dryness or redness in the eyes, foreign body sensation, itching, photophobia, pain, vision changes, blurring of vision, darkness, floating spots in the field of vision, eye pain, redness, and sensitivity to light. Various eye diseases are associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis like Keratitis, Uveitis, Retinal Vascular Occlusion, cataracts, and conjunctivitis.
Kerato Conjunctivitis sicca (KCS) or Dry Eye Disease (DED) is the most common eye problem in patients of Rheumatoid Arthritis. It’s an eye condition associated with insufficient lubrication of the eye caused by decreased tear formation.
Episcleritis may be a manifestation of RA, occurring in less than 1 percent of patients. It is typically described as a discomfort, rather than pain, acute in onset, and is usually self-limiting. Scleritis patients have severe, constant, boring pain in the eyes that worsens at night or early morning hours and radiates to the face.
Redness, fuzzy vision, sensitivity to light, pain, and “flying flies” or black patches that seem to float in the eyes are all signs of uveitis. Depending on the inflamed location of the eye, there are many forms of uveitis. Whether you have arthritis or not, early detection and treatment of vision problems can help prevent vision loss.
If you have RA and have eye symptoms such as itching, foreign body sensation, redness, pain, or loss of vision you should visit an ophthalmologist at the earliest.
Dr. Ashish K Badika has 3 years of advanced training in Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology including 2 years Post Doctoral.
He has extensive exposure to Systemic Autoimmune Disorder (Rheumatoid arthritis, Psoriatic arthritis, Seronegative spondyloarthritis, Systemic lupus erythematosus, Scleroderma, Gout, Myositis, Sjogren’s Syndrome, Vasculitic conditions, and Paediatric rheumatology disorders)