Prevalence of Blindness in Patients with Uveitis.

introduction: The uvea plays an important role in ocular immunological defense mechanism. Immunologically speaking, the eye has a deviant and privileged position because of the blood retina barriers, absence of lymphatic drainage and a special feature called anterior chamber associated deviation. This special defense mechanism contributed to the preservation of vision. If these mechanism fail, intraocular inflammation will arise, which may lead to blindness. The aim of this research is to find out the incidence of blindness in patients with uveitis. Material and methods: In this study, 50 cases of uveitis attending ophthalmic out patients and those who are admitted in department of ophthalmology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal were studied to find out clinical incidence of blindness. All the patients were subjected to detailed ocular examination including visual acuity, slit lamp biomicroscopy, direct/indirect ophthalmoscopy and intraocular pressure was recorded. results: Out of 50 patients examined, 20 cases (40%) developed blindness or visual impairment. Bilateral loss of vision developed in 5 cases (10%) and unilateral loss of vision occurred in 11 cases (22%). conclusion: Uveitis was found to be more common in the age group of 21 – 30 years with male preponderance. The main cause of visual loss were secondary glaucoma and cataract. Patients with panuveitis had the worst visual prognosis.