Blurred Vision

When I was young, about 3 years old, I lost the vision in my right eye. Kids with JRA are susceptible to iritis, which can lead to vision loss. At times my right eye will become irritated and red so I take steroid drops to calm the inflammation. The flair up of my eye will usually correlate to a overall body flair. If you are a parent and you have a child with JRA make sure you are taking your child in for vision checks. I was told by my ophthalmologist that iritis will not be visible to another person, the eye will not typically be red or look irritated. When my eye is irritated now it will be sore to the touch and the sun

The weekend before Halloween I woke up with blurred vision. We had stayed at my moms so I thought it was the new environment or a new allergy, I really didn't think much of it. Well it didn't get any better all day and I woke up the next morning with blurred vision still. I went in to see a new ophthalmologist and she diagnosed it as iritis. Whoa! That was a big slap in the face wake up call! When I think of iritis I think of being blind. My first question of course is "can you fix this?!?!" Obviously they can as I am now able to say "hey, I really cant see well here." Unlike when I was three. I have done an intensive schedule of steroid drops and for the first two weeks my eye was constantly dilated, talk about a headache! The good news is my vision slowly got better and the inflammation continues to go back to normal. I will be very cautious if this were to happen again. My theory is that it happened due to the flair I'm currently having. The good news is though I am on my third week of Orencia injections so fingers crossed this will help the overall inflammation settle down. I really didn't think this could happen to my eye as it typically happens at a younger age, I guess I was wrong. Next week I will have an ultrasound of my right eye, I'm sure it will be interesting! We are checking behind my eye as a normal eye exam is unable to do that because of all the scar tissue, inflammation and cataract.

Parents, please pay close attention to your children's vision if they have been diagnosed with JRA! I'm sure things have changed drastically in 26 years since I was diagnosed but just know it is possible.