Uveitis & Occular Infectious Disease
Intravitreal injection of steroid in a patient with refractory uveitis and macular edema.
The Moran Eye Center is fortunate to have one of the top Uveitis specialists in the world, Dr. Albert T. Vitale. He works in partnership with the Cornea, Glaucoma, Retina, Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery and Neuro-Ophthalmology Services in a multi-disciplinary approach to inflammatory and infectious disease involving the eye and its adnexa.
At the Moran Eye Center we offer the expertise for state of the art treatment for uveitis and other ocular infectious diseases, and have the potential to develop novel approaches and drug delivery systems. The ultimate beneficiaries will be the patients who suffer with this disease.
What is Uveitis?
Uveitis is inflammation of a part of the eye called the uvea. The uvea (pronounced “You-Vay-Uh”) is a layer of the eye made up of three parts. These are the iris, the ciliary body, and the choroid.
Uveitis can occur in one eye or both eyes. Inflammation of the uvea may involve other parts of the eye, or any part of the eye, including the cornea (the clear, curved front of the eye), the sclera (the white outer part of the eye), the vitreous body, the retina and the optic nerve.
Uveitis, or intra-ocular inflammatory disease, does not attract massive funding or attention, but it causes 10% of blindness in the United States. Up to 60% of people with posterior segment disease (involving retina and back of the eye) have significant visual loss (less than 20/60) and up to 30% become legally blind. Some estimates suggest it is the 4th leading cause of blindness in the country. In general, it is poorly understood, difficult to treat, and under treated.
Doctor
Services
Specialized evaluation and medical and surgical treatment in the following areas:
- Acute, chronic or recurrent iritis
- Herpes virus uveitis and kerato-uveitis
- Pars planitis and other posterior uveitis
- Intra-ocular infectious disease
- Chorioretinitis
- Infectious retinitis
- Uveitis associated with systemic disease
- Scleritis and peripheral ulcerative keratitis
- Postoperative infectious and inflammatory disease
- Complicated cataract secondary to uveitis
- Retinal vasculitis
- Diseases associated with AIDS and with transplant-related immunosuppression
- Cystoid macular edema
- Preoperative consultation regarding immunosuppression and anti-inflammatory disease
- Medications and surgical techniques