How Arthritis Affects Your Eyes

What, the eyes?

Isn’t arthritis limiting and painful enough so we don’t have to twist the knife by adding more?

Unfortunately, you need to know about these if you suffer arthritis. Because there are still many things you can do to prevent those serious eye conditions, especially if caught early.

So, in today’s article, we’ll tell you about 7 ways arthritis affects your eyes and what to do about it.

Most of the conditions are inflammatory ones:

1) Dry eye. According to a review of the literature in the journal Cogent Medicine in 2016, this is the most common complaint that bothers up to 50% of arthritis sufferers. Your lacrimal glands are less active, and so are your salivary glands to cause a dry mouth as well as dry eyes. An artificial tear solution should be sufficient to provide relief.

2) Conjunctivitis. According to this same review, inflammation of your inner eyelid and the outside layer of the white part of your eye is common. This is normally caused by a virus, bacterium, or other irritant, is luckily not serious, and will pass without treatment in less than five days. Keeping dirty hands off your eyes and avoiding known irritants are good preventive measures.

3) Keratitis. This is another inflammatory condition, in this case of your cornea. When caused by bacteria or viruses, it can pass quickly, but more serious forms can cause your cornea to perforate or to develop scar tissue that can leave you half blind. If you struggle with pain, poor eyesight and red eyes, you may be in trouble and should seek medical attention.

4) Episcleritis and scleritis. These conditions involve inflammation of the episclera or sclera, the latter being the outside white coating of your eye. The former passes undramatically, but the latter is serious and can lead to permanent loss of vision. It is also very painful and might require surgery.

5) Retinal vasculitis. This occurs when your retinal artery becomes inflamed, and the only way you can know it is happening is when your vision deteriorates, when you see dark spots or when you struggle to distinguish colors. An ophthalmologist will have to diagnose and treat it.

6) Ocular hypertension and glaucoma. According to a study in a recent edition of the journal Acta Ophthalmologica, up to 42% of people with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis have ocular hypertension or glaucoma.

Ocular hypertension is high eye pressure because of inadequate drainage of fluid from your eyes. This causes glaucoma, which involves damage to the optic nerve. This can cause permanent vision loss. There is no cure but if caught early enough, it can be managed without serious vision loss.

7) Uveitis. A potentially serious condition, it involves the inflammation of the part of your eye that includes the iris. If you’re sensitive to light, see flashing lights, have burning eyes and blurred vision, you need to visit your ophthalmologist.

I recommend that everyone suffering arthritis gets a regular checkup with a good ophthalmologist. Even if some of the conditions above are incurable, they can often be managed, symptom free, if caught early.

On the upside, most of these conditions are inflammatory, which suggests that you can help to prevent them by keeping the levels of inflammation in your body as low as possible.

And the best news is that you can completely reverse your arthritis, and therefore the eye complications, in 28 days, following these 3 simple steps…