fluid behind the eyes

[nosroblig]

I am currently on 11.5mg prenisladone tapered down from 20mg since March. I have been having trouble with my eyes and an optician has referred me to the eye hospital because of fluid behind the eyes. Does steroids cause this?

Another possibility is wet macula degeneration!

[PMRpro Ambassador]

There are conditions that steroids can cause including central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) which causes a buildup of fluid underneath the retina. This can lead to retinal detachment and vision loss. One of its symptoms is blurred vision in one or both eyes so getting advice from an optometrist if you are on steroids and have blurred vision is always advisable. I don't think steroids play any role in WMD though.

In the past patients on steroids were entitled to a vision check on the NHS once a year but then cutbacks resulted in that being stopped. It is still advisable to go and get your eyes checked regularly - they can identify a lot of conditions from a look at the back of your eyes!

[LWNE]

Hello, as well as PMR (which seems after 4 years to be going into remission, hurrah), I have uveitis which causes a build up.of fluid behind the eye - both conditions caused by inflammation but not directly linked...im currently being treated for an eye flare, so have had to.go back up to 20mg from 2mg of Pred. Im really disappointed as I was hoping to have got off Pred in next 2 or 3 months! However, im glad to be otherwise very healthy and very active, and am optimistic the uveitis can be controlled. Good luck to you!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to LWNE]

They can be linked as symptoms of certain forms of inflammatory arthritis.

[LWNE in reply to PMRpro]

Aha, that is interesting to know! The eye hospital tell me when I get back down to 5mg I may have to stay on that dose "for a few months" to help stabilise the uveitis...not what I had hoped for but could be worse....

[GrandmaPirate]

It is also important to control the pressure in you eyes. As a glaucoma patiënt I knew that I had keep an eye on that when taking prednisolone and indeed the pressure went up and so I got additionel daily eye drops to keep the pressure under control.

[Bertiebeagle]

I was diagnosed with ocular hypertension fairly soon after starting steroids, the eye specialist is fairly sure that it is down to the steroids although we won’t know for sure until I stop the steroids. In the meantime latanoprost eye drops are keeping everything in check.