Exams and Tests

The diagnosis of iritis is confirmed by examining the eye with a slit lamp (a special microscope designed for eye examination). Your ophthalmologist can see cells (white blood cells) and flare (particles of protein) in the aqueous humor (fluid that is produced in the eye).

Your physician will take a careful history looking for possible causes of iritis.

Other findings aid your ophthalmologist in diagnosing iritis.

• Topical anesthetics do not relieve the pain associated with iritis.



• Shining light in the normal, unaffected eye causes pain in the affected eye if iritis is present. This is because shining light in one eye causes both pupils to constrict. So, movement of the affected iris causes pain.



• The pressure inside the eye (so called "glaucoma test") is often lower than in the other eye (but it may be high also).



• The pupil of the eye with iritis may be much smaller or more irregular than the other eye.