Systemic inflammatory disease and the eye

Systemic inflammatory diseases are a spectrum of immunologically mediated disorders that present with multisystem symptoms and signs. Ophthalmological examination often provides important clinical clues to the nature of the underlying disorder and characteristic ocular patterns may be identified that aid diagnosis. This article summarizes the ocular manifestations of systemic inflammatory disease and suggests a rational approach to diagnosis based on the type of ocular vessel predominantly involved in the inflammatory process.