Assessment of Retinal Vasculature in Patients with Psoriasis

Abstract

Background: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that results from excessive proliferation of the underlying epidermis; however, the etiology of this disease is still unknown. Even though vision-threatening ophthalmic complications are very rare, about 10% of people with psoriasis have eye problems. In addition, ophthalmic complications of psoriasis are numerous and have a non-specific nature, such as blepharitis, conjunctivitis, keratitis, and xerosis. Therefore, ophthalmic involvement in psoriasis remains clinically underappreciated.Aim of the work: The objective of the current study was to evaluate the retinal vasculature in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis.Patients and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on a total of 30 patients with moderate to severe psoriasis according to the psoriasis area severity index [PASI] score collected from the Damietta Al-Azhar dermatology clinic and the Damietta dermatology and venerology hospital.Results: Most of the studied cases were associated with no associated comorbidities [60%], followed by psoriatic arthritis [13.3%], and lastly rheumatoid arthritis, peptic ulcer, cholecystitis, and cardiac disease, representing 6.7% of each. In the context of dry eye, the current study demonstrated that: 36.7% plus one, 30% plus two, 26.7% plus three, and 6.7% plus four have dry eye. Psoriasis severity has been demonstrated to be significantly correlated with hyperemia, dry eye, cataracts, and normal retinal vasculature.Conclusion: We concluded that retinal vasculature affection had a negligible relationship with psoriasis. However, dry eye and conjunctival hyperemia were significantly correlated with the degree of psoriasis [as revealed by PASI score].

Keywords

• psoriasis
• psoriasis area severity index
• conjunctivitis
• uveitis