Uveitis is an ocular condition brought on by inflammation of the uvea, the tissue of the eye located beneath the sclera (white part of the eyeball), comprising the iris (central ring-shaped part that borders the pupil hole) the choroid membrane (containing the blood vessels that supply most of the tissues of the eye with oxygen and nutrients and take up carbon dioxide waste substances) and the ciliary body (a structure located around the iris, beneath the choroid, that secretes aqueous humor, the fluid that irrigates and nourishes the parts of the eye not reached by the blood vessels and that determines the eye’s internal pressure).
Depending on the portion of the uvea affected by the inflammation, there are forms of uveitis: anterior (iritis, with iris involvement); intermediate (cyclitis, with ciliary body involvement); posterior (choroiditis, with choroid involvement); and diffuse (panuveitis, with generalized involvement).
Uveitis can have a sudden or gradual acute onset, affect one or both eyes, be induced by various causes, and affect people of any age, although it tends to appear mostly between the ages of 20 and 50.
