Traumatic Iritis

The human eye gets its colour from a circular pigmented membrane called the iris. Made up of muscular fibres, the iris controls the amount of light entering through the pupil or centre of the eye, to give you clear vision. When the iris becomes inflamed or damaged due to trauma (blunt force) to the eyes, it is termed as traumatic iritis. Symptoms of traumatic iritis include pain, blurred vision, tearing, redness, swelling and sensitivity to light exposure.

When you present to the clinic with these symptoms, your doctor performs a thorough examination of your eyes, records your medical history and performs certain tests such as visual acuity, eye pressure and slit lamp microscopic examination. Your doctor will also check for the presence of inflamed cells in the eye and dilate your pupil to examine the retina and optic nerves.

Traumatic iritis can be treated using cycloplegic drops (eye drops which paralyse the cells of the iris to reduce pain) and steroid eye drops, which help to reduce inflammation in the iris.