# Uveitis and photophobia

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uveitis-and-photophobia/762558>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 12, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uveitis-and-photophobia/762558 "2016-08-12T13:31:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uveitis-and-photophobia/762558/1 "2016-08-12T13:31:14Z")

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My Anterior Uveitis is back. ☹ And I’m just back from the doctor. The ophthalmologist had great difficulty because the uveitis has rendered the eye extremely photophobic. Which meant that my eye watered like crazy and I had to back off the equipment or close my eye or both. How can I help the ophthalmologist when I go back?

And would anyone care to go into the link between uveitis and photophobia? In simple terms, that is. All I’ve managed to find are papers which say that the latter is a symptom of the former.

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**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uveitis-and-photophobia/762558/2 "2016-08-12T14:31:42Z")

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Obligatory IANAD.

It may be helpful to post a description of the disease, as I wager most folk are unaware:

> [@](#):
>
> The most common type is an inflammation of the iris called iritis (anterior uveitis).  
> Symptoms include redness, pain, light sensitivity, blurred vision, and dark floating spots in the field of vision.  
> A common treatment is eye drops that ease the inflammation. If uveitis is a result of an infection, antibiotics or antiviral medication may be prescribed.

The front portion of your uvial tract is inflamed. That portion of the uvial tract includes the iris, which controls the size of the pupil and, therefore, how much light gets in the eye. My guess would be that the inflammation is causing the pupil to dilate more than normal and let in too much light.