Does Lyme disease affect your eyesight, and if so what can be done?

Pat

Lyme disease, a bacterial infection spread by ticks that live on white-tailed deer and rodents, occurs primarily in the Northeast, Midwest and Pacific Northwest. The classic early sign of Lyme disease is a large "bull's-eye" rash that typically occurs at the site of an infected tick bite. Along with the rash, people often experience a mild flu-like illness.

However, the initial rash frequently occurs on parts of the body that people don't usually check, so the infection is often missed and goes untreated. This allows the bacterial infection to spread, causing damage to many areas of the body. The bacteria tend to focus on the joints, causing sporadic bouts of arthritis in the knees, jaw and other large joints. The bacteria may also attack the nervous system and heart.

Lyme disease can also affect the eyes, causing a generalized inflammation called uveitis. When Lyme disease-associated uveitis occurs, treatment usually involves both oral antibiotics (to kill Lyme bacteria everywhere in the body) and anti-inflammatory eyedrops (to reduce the inflammation of the eye). Because Lyme disease responds well to therapy, both when it affects the eye and when it affects the body as a whole, the real key is getting the infection diagnosed as early as possible.