Prevent Blindness Texas Declares Fifth Annual Inflammatory Eye Disease (IED) Week as Oct. 20-26, 2025
— Annual Observance from Prevent Blindness Texas Offers Free Inflammatory Eye Disease (IED) Educational Resources to the Public and Professionals, Including Webpages, Fact Sheets, Shareable Social Media Graphics and Videos featuring Patient Testimonials and IED Experts–
TX (Oct. 20, 2025) – Prevent Blindness Texas has declared Oct. 20-26, 2025, as the fifth annual Inflammatory Eye Disease (IED) Week. Prevent Blindness Texas is offering a variety of free educational IED resources including a dedicated webpage, updated social media graphics and several downloadable fact sheets in English and Spanish, and videos. IED Awareness Week is supported by a grant from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals.
Inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury, infection, or irritation. Inflammation can sometimes occur in response to normally harmless substances, such as dust, grass, or pollen. Eye inflammation is common and can happen at any age.
Most cases of eye inflammation can be successfully treated. However, in rare cases there can be a serious disease present, which is a threat to the eyesight. Early diagnosis and treatment are crucial in saving eyesight.
There are several different types of IEDs, including Conjunctivitis, Keratitis, Thyroid Eye Disease and Scleritis.
Uveitis is the most common form of IED and affects the middle layer of tissue in the eye, called the uvea. The types of condition include anterior uveitis (iritis), intermediate uveitis, and posterior uveitis. Panuveitis affects all layers of the uvea. In some cases where inflammation is recurrent and chronic, damage to the eye can occur, particularly to the retina and optic nerve, and cause permanent vision loss.
Signs and symptoms of uveitis include:
- Eye redness
- Eye pain
- Light sensitivity
- Blurred vision
- Dark, floating spots in your field of vision (floaters)
- Decreased vision
Additionally, Prevent Blindness Texas has several IED episodes in its Focus on Eye Health Expert Series, including:
- Uveitis and Inflammatory Eye Diseases featuring Steven Yeh, MD, Professor and Stanley Truhlsen Jr. Chair of Ophthalmology, Truhlsen Eye Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Yeh is also a volunteer on the Prevent Blindness Scientific Committee.
- Inflammatory Eye Disease with Ann-Marie Lobo-Chan, MD, MS, Associate Professor, Co-Director, Uveitis Service, Director, Uveitis/Medical Retina Fellowship, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois College of Medicine.
- Thyroid Eye Disease and Mental Wellness with Dr. Prem Subramanian, neuro-ophthalmologist with the UCHealth Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center.
- Thyroid Eye Disease with Sara T. Wester, MD, FACS, professor of clinical ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and TED patient Stephen Bander.
“Inflammatory eye disease encompasses a range of conditions. If left untreated, IEDs can result in significant vision loss,” said Heather Patrick, President and CEO of Prevent Blindness Texas. “We urge anyone who has IED symptoms to schedule an appointment with an eye doctor right away.”
For more information on inflammatory eye disease, please visit https://preventblindness.org/inflammatory-eye-disease.
For a listing of vision care financial assistance programs in English or Spanish, visit https://preventblindnesstexas.org/vision-care-financial-assistance-information.
About Prevent Blindness Texas
Established in 1956 and incorporated in 1965, Prevent Blindness Texas is the state’s leading eye health and safety nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing blindness and preserving sight. At Prevent Blindness Texas, our vision is vision – making healthy eyes a priority in Texas. We focus on improving the state’s vision and eye health by enhancing community capacity through our core competencies of early detection, patient support, systems enhancement, public policy, public awareness, and health education. Prevent Blindness Texas touches the lives of thousands of Texans through our sight-saving programs and services through our network of volunteers and offices located statewide. For more information, or to contribute to the sight-saving fund, call 1-888-98-SIGHT or, visit us on the Web at www.preventblindnesstexas.org, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X and YouTube.