You may have seen Mila Kunis in the films “Black Swan,” an Oscar nominee for Best Picture, and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” or on the TV series “That ‘70s Show.” She’s a talented young actress with a great career ahead of her.
Photo of Mila Kunis by: Nick Slide
And it turns out that for several years Mila was blind in one eye due to a condition called chronic iritis. In a recent magazine interview, she talked about the condition for the first time and revealed that her vision had been restored with surgery.
“I was blind in one eye for many years, and no one knew,” she told Cosmopolitan. “I’m not blind anymore. I had surgery a couple of months ago. They cut it open and dropped a new lens in there.”
The iris is the circular membrane that gives the eye its color and comprises muscular fibers that govern the amount of light entering the pupil. Sometimes the iris can become inflamed, and this condition is called iritis. (Iritis is a type of uveitis and sometimes the two designations are used interchangeably.)
Iritis can be acute or chronic. Acute iritis can heal independently within weeks, and even faster with medication. But chronic iritis does not respond as well to treatment, which makes it more persistent. Sufferers of chronic iritis are at higher risk of serious visual impairment than people with the acute variety.
Iritis can be traced in some cases to eye trauma, but it is most often seen as a secondary condition related to a variety of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, infections and cancers.
According to The Iritis Organization, the following symptoms are indicative of iritis. If you are experiencing them, an ophthalmologist should check you out:
- Deep pain in the eye or pain surrounding eyes
- Light sensitivity
- Red eye around the iris
- Pupils of different sizes or unusual shapes
- Blurry or cloudy vision
- Headache
- White blood cells and protein in the anterior chamber
The exact surgery performed on Milia Kunis is not named. However, some people with chronic iritis develop secondary cataract, secondary glaucoma, or both. Surgery for one or both of these secondary conditions improves vision for many patients. Treatment of iritis will depend on the severity of the condition. In acute cases, it may consist of topical corticosteroids and dilating eye drops. Chronic iritis may require, in addition to topical medications, the use of oral steroids or other immunomodulating drugs.
It’s great to hear that Mila’s treatment was successful and that she is seeing well again. I wish Mila the best with her career and with her vision, and I think it’s great she shared her story, which will no doubt help grow awareness of this condition.
