How does psoriatic arthritis affect the eyes? Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) mainly affects the skin and joints but can cause eye conditions ranging from irritation to vision loss.
“The most common symptoms are eye redness and pain and can occur in one eye or both,” says Dr. Haberman. “Other symptoms that can occur include blurred vision, sensitivity to light, and small or irregular shaped pupils.”
Eye dryness, eye pain, and conjunctivitis are some common problems associated with psoriatic arthritis. A less-frequent psoriatic eye condition is inflammation in the middle layer of the eye, known as uveitis, which can lead to permanent eye damage and vision loss if left untreated.
If you have psoriatic arthritis, you're probably familiar with the symptoms that affect your joints. But you should also be on the lookout for eye pain or blurry vision — symptoms of a condition known as uveitis.
Joint pain, stiffness and swelling are the main signs and symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. They can affect any part of the body, including your fingertips and spine, and can range from relatively mild to severe. In both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, disease flares can alternate with periods of remission.
In addition to the problems it can cause on your skin and in your joints, it's thought that inflammation could: Make you more prone to pain. Cause fatigue and “brain fog” Damage vessels supplying blood to your brain, putting you at risk for stroke and migraine.
PsA Is an Autoimmune Disease
Psoriatic arthritis is an autoimmune disease, meaning it occurs when the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue, in this case the joints and skin. The faulty immune response causes inflammation that triggers joint pain, stiffness and swelling.
Studies have shown that there are certain autoimmune diseases that occur in people with psoriatic arthritis more frequently than in the general population. These include conditions such as celiac disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, thyroid autoimmunity, and vitiligo.
Dry eyes (eyes that burn, itch or feel gritty) Continuously red eyes (with blurred vision, pain or light sensitivity) Severe eye pain (with light sensitivity, tearing or redness)
Psoriasis around the eyes is extremely rare but can cause redness/discoloration, dryness, and discomfort and may impair your vision. If you have psoriasis around your eyes, consult with a dermatologist and an ophthalmologist (a doctor who specializes in treating eye diseases).
An outbreak of psoriasis on your eyelids looks like a patch of swollen, itchy, discolored and scaly skin that appears on or around the skin near your eyes. This patch of affected skin is called a plaque.
A study published in 2015 in the journal PLoS One found that the overall pain, joint pain, and fatigue reported by psoriatic arthritis patients was significantly greater than that reported by people with rheumatoid arthritis.
According to a 2016 study published in Clinical Rheumatology: Psoriatic arthritis is closely linked to leukemia, lymphoma, and breast cancer. 21. Psoriasis is closely associated with leukemia, lymphoma, and non-melanoma skin cancers.
You'll probably think of skin issues first, but your eyes, heart, lungs, gastrointestinal (GI) tract (stomach and intestines), liver and kidneys may also be affected.
Generally psoriatic arthritis is a mild condition. With proper treatment and help from others you can relieve joint pain and stiffness and keep skin problems under control. Some people however have a more serious disease and require combinations of medications to control symptoms and prevent joint damage.
Foods like fatty red meats, dairy, refined sugars, processed foods, and possibly vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants (you might hear them called nightshades) may all cause inflammation. Avoid them and choose fish, like mackerel, tuna, and salmon, which have omega-3 fatty acids.
The best way for people with psoriatic arthritis to protect themselves against the virus is to stay up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines.
Psoriatic arthritis is a heterogeneous chronic inflammatory disease characterized by the association of psoriasis and arthritis. Similar to those with other viruses, patients with psoriatic arthritis are at a significant risk of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
If you have psoriatic arthritis, you are at a higher risk of getting the flu and having flu-related complications. There are steps that you can take to protect yourself, such as getting a flu shot. If you do have flu-like symptoms, it's important to tell your doctor right away.
Over time, this inflammation can damage blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and heart attack. People with PsA have a still higher risk of heart disease than those with psoriasis alone, according to the authors of a 2018 review .
Multiple sclerosis (MS) has also been reported as a comorbidity in individuals with PsO, and vice versa. This link between the two diseases may be somewhat unsurprising as both PsO and MS are inflammatory disorders and exhibit similarities in genetic risk variants and inflammatory pathways.
Psoriasis is a chronic (long-lasting) disease of the immune system. It cannot be cured. This means that most people have psoriasis for life.
The most severe and least common type of psoriatic arthritis is called arthritis mutilans. Fewer than 5 percent of individuals with psoriatic arthritis have this form of the disorder.