Abstract
Purpose :
Ocular surface comorbidities including dry eye disease, meibomian gland dysfunction, as well as cytokine and chemokine alterations in the tear film have been associated with patients with uveitis such as Behcet's disease and sarcoidosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence and characteristics of corneal, conjunctival and eyelid margin abnormalities in patients with panuveitis.
Methods :
Retrospective review of 101 patients with panuveitis who presented to the Kresge Eye institute between 2011-2017. Ocular surface and eyelid margin comorbidities were identified and characterized.
Results :
Our patients consisted of 68 females (68%) and a predominantly African American population of 79 patients (82%). Mean age of patients was 50.1 years (range 16-95 years old). Presenting visual acuity of the group was 20/100 OD (logMAR: 0.7) and 20/120 OS (logMAR: 0.78). Mean follow up duration was 64.9 months (range 0.93 - 136.1). 45 of the 101 patients (44.56%) had ocular surface abnormalities and 48.5% had meibomian gland dysfunction. Of those with ocular surface disease, 42.2% had conjunctival abnormalities, 40% had evidence of endothelial dysfunction, 28.9% had band keratopathy, 20% had dry eye signs, and 11.1% had corneal scar or haze. When looking at the underlying causes of uveitis in patients who had ocular surface disease, 26.8% had idiopathic uveitis, while 24.4% had sarcoidosis.
Conclusions :
There was a high incidence of ocular surface, corneal and eyelid margin disease in patients with panuveitis. The predominant pathologies were dry eye syndrome, corneal endothelial dysfunction, band keratopathy, and meibomian gland dysfunction. Panuveitis patients had a high burden of ocular surface, corneal and eyelid margin disease. Identification of such conditions as part of the disease spectrum would help better understand the immunopathogenesis of ocular inflammatory diseases and aid in diagnosis and management of patients with panuveitis.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.