A twenty-year review of scleritis at Kyushu University

Purpose: To review scleritis and episcleritis during the past 20 years. Cases: This retrospective study comprised 111 cases of scleritis and 59 cases of episcleritis seen by us during 20 years through 2002. Results: Age at onset averaged 52.4±16.5 years for scleritis and 47.5±16.5 years for episcleritis. Women were more affected than men at the approxomate ratio of 3:4. The type of scleritis was diffuse in 58%, nodular in 17%, necrotizing in 5% and posterior in 20%. Unilateral involvement was more common than bilateral one both for scleritis and episcleritis. Iritis was the most frequent ocular complication and rheumatic arthritis was the most frequent systemic one. Conclusion: The present findings are almost consistent with previous reports regarding gender, age, ocular and systemic complications. Diffuse scleritis appears to be more common in the Japanese than in Caucasians.