Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may cause inflammation in your eyes, leading to complications such as dry eyes, redness, and floaters, among others. Early treatment may prevent these conditions from worsening.

With rheumatoid arthritis (RA), your immune system mistakenly attacks the tissues in your joints. This leads to inflammation, which commonly causes joints to be painful, swollen, and stiff.

Inflammation may also affect other body parts, including your skin, blood vessels, and eyes. Eye complications aren’t uncommon in RA.

Inflammation from RA may affect various body parts, including your eyes. These complications may include:

Dry eyes

A common eye complaint for people with RA is dry eyes, medically termed keratoconjunctivitis sicca. Inflammation from RA causes irregularities in your tear glands (lacrimal), significantly reducing fluid secretion.

The symptoms associated with dry eyes are more common in the later part of the day when tears from your tear gland (systemic) have dried up and evaporated.

Other symptoms of dry eyes include:

Redness

Redness in your eyes, along with RA, is most likely the result of scleritis, or inflammation in the white part of your eye.

Redness from scleritis won’t go away with eye drops. It may also cause:

  • pain in your eyes
  • light sensitivity (photophobia)
  • reduced vision

Uveitis

Uveitis is another possible complication of RA, but it’s mostly seen in the juvenile form of the disease.

Uveitis occurs when your uvea, the layer between your retina and the white of your eye, becomes inflamed. Symptoms include:

  • redness
  • pain
  • light sensitivity
  • blurred vision

RA causes the majority of cases of uveitis in children (systemic juvenile inflammatory arthritis). Uveitis is treatable but may cause blindness if left without proper treatment.

Floaters

Uveitis and other eye inflammation may cause floaters, which are dark spots that move across your field of vision.

Corneal damage

Untreated dry eyes, scleritis, uveitis, or Sjögren may scratch, scar, or ulcerate your cornea. Corneal damage may cause permanent loss of vision.

Seek treatment immediately if you have RA and eye symptoms.

Sjögren is an autoimmune disorder that may develop alongside RA.

Sjögren affects the glands in your body that produce moisture. It may cause dry and itchy eyes and a gritty feeling as if sand is trapped in them. Excessive tearing may also occur as a reaction to the dryness.

Sjögren may cause other symptoms, including:

Early detection is important for RA treatment. When you receive treatment and reduce inflammation, you’ll be less likely to develop eye disorders from RA.

You can treat your eye complications with:

These may help relieve dryness, redness, and itching

For severe inflammations that don’t respond to eye drops, your doctor may recommend a topical steroid or immunosuppressive medications. These are usually applied twice a day to treat inflammation.

While joint pain, swelling, and stiffness are the primary symptoms of RA, the inflammatory response of the misfiring immune system may cause other symptoms:

If you have dry or red eyes, you may have an autoimmune disorder like RA with Sjögren disease. But many other conditions may also cause dry or red eyes.

It’s more likely you have RA if your eye problems accompany other symptoms such as:

Talk with a doctor about these symptoms, especially if your eye problems don’t improve in a few days.

Rheumatoid arthritis may cause dry and red eyes, although it’s rare for it to only cause eye complications. If you have RA, you’ll likely be experiencing other symptoms, along with dry eyes.

Talk with a doctor if you’re experiencing prolonged dry or red eyes, especially if your dry and red eyes don’t respond to eye drops and topical lubricants.

Chronic dry eye may cause corneal damage, possibly leading to permanent vision loss. Your doctor can provide the appropriate treatment for eye relief.

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