Evaluation of the prevalence of ocular symptoms in psoriatic patients

Introduction
Around 10% of patients with psoriasis complain of eye problems. They are believed to be caused by immune disturbances and applied treatment.

Objective
To assess visual disturbances in patients with psoriasis.

Material and methods
Two hundred and seventy-nine patients with psoriasis were asked to participate in a questionnaire survey. Several factors were analyzed: patients’ age, sex, duration of the disease, type of psoriasis and treatment. Answers from patients were compared to the control group consisting of 135 respondents.

Results
Forty-nine percent of the psoriatic patients complained of ocular symptoms. Women were more likely to experience ocular disturbances than men regardless of the clinical variant of the disease. There was no significant correlation between duration of psoriasis and development of ocular manifestations. Patients with psoriatic arthritis were especially predisposed to ophthalmic disturbances. Three symptoms – sudden change in visual acuity, severe eye pain, blurred vision – were statistically more frequent in patients than in healthy controls. Fifty-seven percent of the patients using only external treatment and 42% receiving systemic treatment of psoriasis reported eye complaints.

Conclusions
The type of psoriasis most predisposing to ocular disorders is psoriatic arthritis. Women are more likely to develop ophthalmic dysfunction, which may be associated with autoimmune reactions, more often found in females. Four of the analyzed ocular symptoms are manifestations of anterior uveitis. Patients receiving systemic therapy less commonly complain of ocular disturbances compared to patients receiving topical treatment only. Among all systemic therapies in psoriasis, retinoid therapy was most commonly associated with ocular symptoms.