Sympathetic ophthalmia, a genuine autoimmune disease.

Intraocular inflammation of exogenous origin, which may lead to the loss of visual function in both eyes, i.e. SO confronts ophthalmologists much less rarely than might be expected. Epidemiological studies comprising ergophthalmological aspects underscore this. Questions with regard to therapy should consider the fact that the T cell-mediated cytotoxic disease which causes the transition from the initially unilateral subthreshold exogenous uveitis into the bilateral progressive phase is by no means a rare disorder, especially in secondary surgical operations on predamaged eyes with fresh intraocular hemorrhages, vascular neoplasia and secondary glaucoma. This should be recalled again by practicing ophthalmologists, thus enabling the prevention of SO. If SO is a "forme fruste" of retinitis pigmentosa, as is very likely to be the case, further clarification requires clinicopathologic studies in close collaboration with immunologists.