[Ocular involvements in chronic inflammatory diseases in children]

Children uveitis represents 2-6% of all cases of uveitis in an ophthalmology clinic. Uveitis can be due to a specific ophthalmic disease or to a systemic disease: juvenile chronic arthritis. Sarcoidosis, Behçet's disease, and connective tissue diseases. Visual function, in these young patients, may be compromised by severe complications such as band keratopathy, posterior synechiae, cataract, glaucoma, and retinal oedema. In some cases, delayed diagnosis and severity of the uveitis are due to its insidious onset, and to the absence of any complaint from the child. Therapeutic approach based on local and general corticoids in complicated cases, must balance the necessity of controlling ocular inflammation and the secondary effects of this treatment in a growing child.