Pars Planitis and Treatment - Eye & Vision Message Board

knb · 11-09-2000, 09:11 AM

I have been diagnosed with Pars Planitis/Intermediate Uveitis for about 7 years now. Just this morning my doctor told me that I have swelling in my optic nerve. I have some treatment available, but was wondering whether or not I should use the treatment at all. The steroid injections have side effects--glacoma, cataracts--and I'm only 25. I notice on some other web sites that the side effects seem to be common, and wanted to know if anyone has forgone treatment at this stage and what the outcome was. Thanks, Kim

Mitch · 01-05-2001, 09:16 AM

Hi Kim,

I have had pars for over 2 yrs. now. It's worse in left eye than right. I totally understand your scenerio except I don't have optic nerve swelling, just leaking.

I had crytherapy in June 2000 for macular edema, and it had helped a lot at first, but I am getting a lot of returning symptoms.
What kind of treatments for your optic nerve swelling were given to you as options? Did he/she say that the injections, eyedrops, etc. were the culprit for the swelling? Could it be glaucoma? I myself have had depomedrol injections for about 1 1/2 yrs. of my disease. They are a pain in the..........eye! I have had no symptoms of cataracts or glaucoma...yet!

Good luck to you and let us know what happens.

Mitch

knb · 01-06-2001, 07:19 AM

The only option thus far that he has given is steroid eye drops. I've been on them for about two months now--this is the second time for this treatment. The optic nerve swelling is still there, and last month I had an MRI done because he wanted to make sure that I didn't have a brain tumor on the optic nerve, which could also cause swelling. Well, the results came in, and I have no brain tumor, nor do I have MS. I would also like to know, when you were first diagnosed with Pars Planitis, did they do all sorts of tests? For AIDS, TB, Syphillis, MS, etc? I read a lot of postings and it seems to me that whenever people go in for floaters that the doctors overlook the fact that these are sometimes, if not more commonly than not, caused by some systemic disease. Have you found this to be true?