Eye health
Eye Health
Dr Solebo is working to support more effective treatments for uveitis (eye inflammation) in children.
Children with uveitis, a potentially blinding eye condition, often require strong medications like steroids and immunosuppressants. These treatments can lead to several unwanted side effects, including infections, fatigue and missed school time. Currently, doctors use a trial-and-error approach to decide when to stop treatment, which can lead to a chance of the uveitis returning.
Typically, doctors use a slit lamp to examine eyes, but its accuracy can be limited. We need to a new way to predict whether uveitis will return after stopping medication.
Dr Ameenat Lola Soleba from University College London will be using anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) cameras to more accurately detect signs of uveitis returning.
Dr Soleba and her team will analyse OCTs from children whose doctors are about to stop their uveitis treatment (at Great Ormond Street and Moorfields Eye Hospitals). They will examine the patients to see if the disease returns, and then look back to see if their OCT scans could have predicted outcomes. They will then use this information to create a way to support clinicians, patients and carers in making more informed decisions about when and how to stop treatment.