In 15–20% of cases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the disease is accompanied by the development of inflammation of the choroid, which can result in complete loss of vision.
In addition to uveitis, ophthalmopathy in such patients often occurs in the form of scleritis, keratitis, cataracts, glaucoma and conjunctivitis. Scleritis occurs in 5–10% of patients with RA. Rheumatoid scleritis is diagnosed mainly in older women. It should be noted that rheumatoid keratitis is the prerogative of women, while retinal vasculitis is the prerogative of men. In medical opinion, it is very important that in 25–30% of RA patients this eye pathology develops already at the disease’s onset.
Ophthalmopathy in rheumatoid arthritis is considered a very complex medical problem that requires close cooperation between rheumatologists and ophthalmologists for a successful solution. Damage to the organ of vision, in particular the uveal tract, sometimes begins and ends spontaneously with the development of various complications until the first signs of arthritis, further significantly worsening the already poor quality of life of patients. It should be emphasized that at present the relationship between the course of ocular and articular pathology in RA has not been studied, the degree of influence of individual variants of ophthalmopathy on the course of the disease remains unclear, and there is no information on their prognostic significance. This became the goal and objectives of this study.
What are possible treatment options prescribed?
In every aspect of this combination of diseases, only a doctor may prescribe medications. It is necessary to follow all their recommendations to achieve the successful outcome in the therapy. If he recommends to buy any eye drops, for example Lumigan, you may Lumigan buy online. But we should point out that only two specialists may prescribe the right medications. If you have a desire you may buy it online as it is very convenient to get a global delivery. But it is still up to a client to choose the right option for buying and delivering Lumigan and any other medications.
We should figure out that there was conducted a survey and there are the following outcomes.
Research outcomes
Ophthalmopathy at different stages of RA was diagnosed in every 5th examination in the form of uveitis (in 14% of the examined patients), scleritis (in 9%), keratitis (in 7%), glaucoma (in 5%), cataracts (in 5%) and conjunctivitis (2%).
Thus, the ratio of the frequency of these ophthalmic nosologies was 7: 5: 4: 3: 3: 1. 41% of patients with ophthalmia had one eye disease, 26% had a combination of two, 19% had three, and 15% had four.
In 47% of cases, uveitis was detected either at the onset or within 1 year from the disease’s onset. The minimum severity of choroid inflammation was found in 53% of cases, moderate – in 26%, significant – in 21%. The median severity of uveitis was 1.68 (0.86–2.50) points. Acute and intermittent forms of this ophthalmia were diagnosed in 32% and 68% of patients, respectively, and the ratio of anterior, peripheral, posterior uveitis and panuveitis was 4: 2: 1: 1.
In 58% of cases, a diffuse form of scleritis was established, in 42% – nodular, in 67% – unilateral, in 33% – bilateral, and the ratio of subcapsular, cortical and nuclear forms of cataracts was 4: 2: 1.
According to the multivariate analysis of variance, integral manifestations of uveitis in RA patients are influenced by the X-ray stage of the pathological process, and the severity of the uveitis course depends on the duration of the disease and the age of patients at the arthritis onset, as indicated by the performed survey. Note that the index of arthritis progression has little effect on the severity and prevalence of uveitis.
Uveitis, keratitis, cataract and conjunctivitis are closely associated with the rate of progression of the articular syndrome and with the defeat of individual joints, subchondral sclerosis, osteocystosis, osteoporosis, usteousur, aseptic bone necrosis, extra-articular signs of the pathological process, intra-articular chondromic bodies (with keratitis) and Pellagri-Steidi bodies (with glaucoma). The development of ophthalmia is reliably determined by such signs of the disease course as ankle joint damage, digital arteritis, pneumopathy and peripheral polyneuropathy.