UVEA Clinical Services

Anatomy of UVEA

The Uvea is the middle layer of the eyeball. The eye is made of three layers.

The outermost is the sclera and cornea which keep the contents intact and maintain its shape.

The inner layer is the retina which is highly sophisticated neural tissue and forms the image that is sent to the brain via the optic nerve.

The middle layer is the uvea and is responsible for the ‘housekeeping’ of the eye. It carries the blood vessels, nerves, pigment cells and immune cells. It extends from the front to the back of the eye and at different parts is called differently.

In the front is the Iris and anterior part of the ciliary body (anterior uvea), in the middle is the posterior part of the ciliary body (parsplana) (intermediate uvea) and posteriorly it is called the choroid.

UVEITIS

Inflammation of the Uveal tract is called Uveitis.

Symptoms of Uveitis

Eye redness

Eye pain

Light sensitivity

Blurred vision

Dark, floating spots in your field of vision (floaters)

Decreased vision

Whitish area (hypopyon) inside the lower part of the colored area of the eye (iris)

Causes of Uveitis

Although eye specialists do not usually know specifically why uveitis occurs, we do know about some situations and circumstances that make its likelihood greater.

Ankylosing Spondylitis

Reiter’s Syndrome

Psoriatic Arthropathy

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA)

Herpes

Sarcoidosis

Fuch’s Heterochromic Iridocyclitis

Systemic Lupus Erythematosis

Intraocular lens surgically implanted to replace a cataract lens

Posner-Schlossman Syndrome (PSS)

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Syphilis

Tuberculosis (TB)

Lyme Disease