Episcleritis of the eye: a description, symptoms and treatment of the disease

Perhaps you have met people who have a vascular mesh in their eye. As a rule, it is blood-red color and causes unpleasant sensations. Most likely, you are faced with a disease called epicleritis.What it is necessary to know about this disease? How to treat?These and other issues related to episcleritis, this article will answer.

What it is?

Episleritis is an eye disease in which the outer layer of the eye sclera becomes inflamed.

Sclera is called the upper, fairly dense fibrous membrane in the eyeball, which performs a protective function, and also supports the muscles of the eye, nerves, vessels and inner layers.Outside, the sclera is covered with a mucous membrane - conjunctiva.

The sclera consists of three layers:

1. The first layer (actually, the epicler)- loose, abundantly supplied with blood vessels. It is located immediately under the tenon shell.
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2. The second layer (sclera) is very dense.Consists mostly of collagen fibers, which are placed in a chaotic order. These fibers give the sclera a white color.
3. The third layer is placed under the sclera.It is a brown loose shell, which then passes into the vascular membrane. Blood vessels that feed the sclera are located in the tenon shell and in the outer layers of the scleral tissue.

With episcleritis, inflammation affects only the outer layer of the sclera, that is, the episcler.Usually it is bilateral, benign, occurs more often in women after 40 years.Episcleritis is classified into simple, diffuse and nodular.

The first two types are found in 80% of cases, nodular - in 20%. The disease quite often recurs, but, at the same time, it never spreads to the deeper layers of the sclera.

Causes

The exact causes of episcleritis have not yet been established.It is suggested that ocular inflammation occurs against the background of such diseases as:

• rheumatism, tuberculosis, syphilis;
• acute infections;
• diabetes, gout;
• hereditary allergy.

Manifestation of the disease in the child

In rare cases, the cause of episcleritis can be:

• T-cell leukemia;
• granuloma from an insect bite;
• Parry-Romberg syndrome;
• transscleral fixation of the IOL;
• paraproteinemia;
• Svit's syndrome;
• dermatomyositis;
• Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome;
• necrobiotic xanthogranulema;
• adrenal insufficiency;
• displacement of the Jones tube for lacrimal canals.

Symptoms

The most common type of episcleritis.It is characterized by a local or diffuse reddening in the eye, sometimes a little painful.Nodal episcleritis is more durable in flow and slightly more painful than simple. On the eyeball there is a nodule, and around it - hyperemic tissues. Episcleritis never passes into scleritis.

Episcleritis is characterized by recurrent exacerbations lasting for 1-2 weeks, with an interval of 1-3 months. Inflammation can occur in both mild and severe forms.For more prolonged periods, seizures occur in patients with systemic diseases. It is noted that the symptoms of the disease occur more often in the spring or autumn.It is also established that epicleritis can appear after the transferred stress or hormonal changes.

As a rule, patients complain of moderate or severe discomfort, local or diffuse, redness in the eye, lacrimation and photophobia.

Migrating episcleritis is one of the varieties of the disease.It starts with painful sensations and swelling in the eye. Often accompanied by edema of the eyelids and a headache.Migrating episcleritis passes quickly: within two or three days, there is not a trace left on the eye.

Another subspecies of the disease is Rosacea-episcleritis.This species is similar to migrating episcleritis: also there are nodules of a purple hue on the eye.But there is one important difference: the cornea, which is called rosacea-keratitis, is affected. Often combined with the appearance of rosacea on the skin of the face.

Affected areas can have a color from pink to bright red. After a while they take a lilac or purple hue.

Diagnostics

Diagnosis can be made only by an ophthalmologist when examining the eye with a slit lamp.During the examination, the specialist determines the presence of the detachable, the involvement of the underlying tissues, the soreness and excludes other possible causes of the manifestation of the symptoms.The patient should have an anamnesis, which allows to determine the need for additional methods of research.

Diagnosis of the disease is also assisted by:

• indicators of rheumatoid factor;
• tests for syphilis;
• the level of antinuclear antibodies, uric acid;
• ESR of blood;
• fluorography;
• the expanded formula of blood.

It is important to differentiate episcleritis from other diseases, similar in symptomatology: conjunctivitis and scleritis.

Treatment

If a person discovered symptoms similar to epicleritis, then, first of all, you should immediately contact an ophthalmologist.And do not postpone the trip to a medical institution: eye diseases are very dangerous.Moreover, you can not engage in self-medication: so you can lose precious time and miss the onset of the disease.

Epicleritis does not require any complicated treatment.After careful diagnosis, the doctor will most likely prescribe drops that will remove the inflammatory process, as well as drops of artificial tears, necessary for moistening the eye.In severe and neglected cases, the doctor will prescribe non-steroidal and steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in drops or ointments.

If the patient has photophobia, then addition of the treatment will be wearing sunglasses. Also need additional consultation with a rheumatologist and an allergist. The prognosis with episcleritis is favorable.

With a recurring course and the appearance of pain, the patient is given topical corticosteroids in the form of eye drops (decans, maxides, octane-dexamethasone) or ophthalmic ointment (hydrocortisone-PIC), and in severe cases - non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the form of drops (taper) 3-4 times a day. With persistent current, use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs inside.

If episcleritis is caused by major diseases (infectious or rheumatoid), then you need to start with their treatment.Also, elimination of irritants capable of causing an allergic reaction (foci of chronic infection, eating disorder, etc., ).

In the rheumatic nature of episcleritis, salicylates, butadione, and rheopyrin are shown. With infectious sclerites - antibiotics and sulfonamides.

When tuberculosis-allergic sclerites are recommended, desensitizing and specific treatment (PASK, ftyvazid, salusid, metazide, etc.).Local treatment is also performed:

• heat;
• physiotherapeutic procedures;
• mydriatic means (with normal intraocular pressure).

Treatment with folk remedies

To speed up the process of drug treatment, we recommend drops containing aloe juice.This is one of the most effective stimulators of tissue regeneration. You can make such drops yourself. To do this, in 10 drops of water, dilute 1 drop of aloe juice.Use only boiled water at room temperature.Such drops should be instilled in the eye three times a day for three months. For each procedure, a new portion of freshly squeezed aloe juice will be required.

You can also prepare medicinal tincture from the following components:

• chamomile (20 g);
• flowers cornflower (20 g);
• Burdock root (20 g).

1 tablespoon of collection pour boiling water, insist half an hour under the lid. Cooled tincture should be washed with eyes (as often as possible) or do compresses (15 minutes) up to five times a day.

Prevention

Prevention of episcleritis is the timely removal of foci of infection in the body.The following activities can also be recommended:

• timely treatment of herpetic infection;
• Regular monitoring of rheumatology in the presence of autoimmune diseases;
• application of eye protection during traumatic work, etc.

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conclusions

Thus, episcleritis is an inflammatory lesion of the episclerus, localized between conjunctiva and sclera. The cause of the disease, which has a different origin, is not always possible to establish.Diagnosis, as well as treatment, should be dealt with exclusively by an ophthalmologist.In some cases, consultation and assistance of related specialists is required to treat the background pathological process.

Read about what ophthalmic ointments exist from the inflammation of the eyelids in this article, and is conjunctivitis so contagious in children.