welcome to the group!

I am sorry that you have such a terrible case of iritis in the eye from the herpes virus (herpes simplex I presume)
Herpes viral uveitis is a VERY difficult thing to treat in some cases and the antiviral med is a MUST along with the steroid drops to stop the inflammation. hopefully the Durezol will quiet the eye for you soon. the reason it is being used is that it penetrates better to the iris and reduces inflammation more than pred forte and it only requires half the number of drops to do the same job as pred forte making it much easier for the patient to comply with dosing during the course of the day) the herpes virus can cause the muscle that opens and closes the eye to no longer function. it can also cause the surface of the iris to shed causing possible glaucoma as can a 360 degree adhesion between the iris and the lens. using the dilating drop relaxes muscles and also reduces the fluid produced by the cilary body. reduces pain because of this. Glaucoma is a significant problem with the herpes virus because the material sloughed off the iris can plug the drain as well as the cells shed during the inflammatory process.

please do as the specialist has recommended, I assume it is DR Janet Davis at Bascom Palmer as she is one of the best specialists in your State. If you wish a second opinion, then I suggest Dr Foster in Cambridge Mass. USA. but I don't know if he would change treatment as what you are on is the only thing I know of for herpes related uveitis.

once this is under control, a contact lens painted to look like your other eye can be used to help with both light coming into your eye and to make it look 'normal' in a closed postion can be ordered for you. keeping too much light from entering your eye is very important because it can damage your retina.

get some polarized wrap around sunglasses in the darkest color you can find to prevent ultraviolet light from damaging the eye. if you wear glasses, you can go to Walmart optical and buy polar optics fit over sunglasses for about 4O dollars a pair. I use dark green on sunny days and brown ones inside while on the computer and outside on overcast days to prevent damage to my eyes. I don't have herpetic uveitis but I have intra ocular lenses implanted from cataract surgery which do not prevent UV light from damaging my eyes.

you have been dealt a terrible form of uveitis because it can do so much damage quickly. the antiviral medication will be needed for a very long time to prevent the virus from coming out of hiding and traveling up a nerve in the eye to the back of the eye where it can be very serious.
it can attack the retina which can cause acute retinal necrosis. your visits to the specialists must have a 'to be seen as needed' type of appointment should your vision change in any way so that the specialst can watch for and treat this should it occur.

I'm not trying to scare you but to educate you about herpetic uveitis. my own primary care physician developed this and has a contact similar to what I mentioned earlier. He is doing quite well. He was also glad that I could help him through his uveitis as it scared the heck out of him.

you will be ok and your vision should improve once your eyes are quiet. you are also very fortunate to have a highly trained opthalmologist on your team.

there are two types of things, Cells and flare which the doctors mentioned. inflammation is graded on a scale of 1 to 4 is the amount of cells the doctor sees through the slit lamp microscope. Flare is protein shed by them and is also graded on a scale of 1 to 4. it causes vision to be hazy. eventually the haze will disappear.

Please ask any questions you may have and I'll do my best to help you. I know how scary this stuff is. we are all here to listen when you need to vent too. getting all of this out to people who understand is important. this very stressful situation needs to reduced for you so that you can heal.

Wishing you quiet eyes,\
Mike (facilitator Learning about Ocular Inflammatory Disease)