Albert Vitale was one of the speakers at the International Birdshot Symposium held in Boston, USA in September 2013.The Research paper which we link to below was published in May 2013.  It  concludes that Birdshot retinochoroidopathy requires early therapy to limit damage, preserve vision and induce long-term remission.  Published in the “Review of Ophthalmology” the paper is by Akbar Shakoor, MD, and Albert T. Vitale MD, Salt Lake City

– See more at: http://www.revophth.com/content/d/retinal_insider/c/42258/

The paper clearly makes the important point that:

“few patients maintain good visual acuity without treatment, with a 20 percent, five-year cumulative incidence of visual acuity of less than 20/200. Visual acuity may be limited by vitritis, cataract and cystoid macular edema, but the later phases of the disease are marked by significant photoreceptor loss and attenuation of electroretinographic amplitudes.”

It goes on to describe various treatments, comparing success rates.  In relation to steroid mono therapy, however it is delivered he says:-

While periocular, ocular, intravitreal and systemic corticosteroids may be effective in the short-term management of vitritis and macular edema, they are of inconsistent efficacy in the long run. Unacceptably high maintenance doses of prednisone are required, resulting in frequent development of serious adverse effects when used as chronic monotherapy.

 

So if you are only being treated with steroids and are having this experience, it is a useful article to share with your specialist.      Annie