3rd class medical and Uveitis (Iritis) ?

[Cody_WI]

Hey everyone,

I've greatly enjoyed reading this board for over a year now having learned a ton from everyone, and although I'm not yet in flight training I'm looking forward to getting started as soon as it's feasible. I'm looking to get my private certificate and IR and not looking to fly as a career.

One thing has happened recently that has me concerned about failing to get my medical though. In the last few months, I've begun to deal with flare ups of what has been diagnosed as iritis, and have been working with my Opthamologist to get to a root cause. Unfortunately (or fortunately), all of the blood work they've done and eye exams get us no closer to an answer. I'm in otherwise good shape; I run upwards of 15 miles a week and the men in my family have no history of serious illnesses. I'm using Prednisone (Pred Forte) drops in the effected eye during flare ups and it reduces the swelling and blurry vision, but my otherwise 20/15 vision gets effected at panel distances in that eye (probably around 20/30) during episodes.

Reading the FAA documentation I've seen online it looks like I might need a special issuance with a diagnosis of Uveitis. What is entailed with the special issuance? Can anyone shed some light on your experiences or knowledge?

Thanks,
Cody

 

[bbchien]

It is a convincingh history of stable management (not of flares and firefights) on stable dosages with less than 20 mgms of prednisone per day. This gets documented in a typewritten letter with the officenotes of serial exams.

I trust your docs have looked for reiter's, crohns, and certain STDs as they are the common treatable root causes. But much of the time we can't find the cause. Good supression of a known cause leads to stability.

 

[Cody_WI]

Bruce,

I appreciate your reply. Thanks for the specifics too. It's comforting that I can still make this happen if I can get the issue under control. I'll speak to the Opthamologist at my next appointment and keep moving towards mitigation of the flare-ups; we just need to determine what's at the root of the issue.

My sister does have Crohn's disease; she's well managed with Pentasa but your mention of this particular disorder makes me wonder if there could be a genetic link; I haven't had anything like her symptoms but it's worth looking into.

Cody

 

[weilke]

My sister does have Crohn's disease; she's well managed with Pentasa but your mention of this particular disorder makes me wonder if there could be a genetic link; I haven't had anything like her symptoms but it's worth looking into.

There is indeed a link between the two which may or may not apply in your family. Both conditions (anterior uveitis / iritis) are associated with something called HLA B27. It is a surface marker on many human cells and for some reason it is associated with uveitis, crohns, arthritis and some skin disorders.

Be sure to mention your sisters condition to your ophthalmologist. I would even suggest to go to an ophthalmologist who specializes in uveitis for a second opinion. This is no disrespect to your doc, but uveitis is a subspecialty and from the things you have mentioned, you may be a bit of a special case.