Uveitis is inflammation inside the eye, specifically affecting one or more of the three parts of the eye that make up the uvea: the iris (the colored part of the eye), the ciliary body (behind the iris, responsible for manufacturing the fluid inside the eye) and the choroid (the vascular lining tissue underneath the retina). Problems associated with uveitis are relatively under-appreciated by the general population and ophthalmologists alike. Few people realize, for example, that the third leading cause of blindness in this country is uveitis.

Approximately sixty different things can cause uveitis, and the "detective work" involved in trying to discover what a particular patient’s cause for their uveitis is may be extremely tedious and costly. This "detective work" is much more like diagnostic work involved in internal medicine than like the typical work involved in the practice of ophthalmology. Primarily for this reason, few ophthalmologists choose to specialize in uveitis. Additionally, the care of some forms of uveitis requires the use of systemic medications (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, steroids, and/or immunomodulators, "chemotherapy.") This too, dissuades many ophthalmologists from the practical care of patients with uveitis. There are, however, several centers around the United States specializing in the care with patients with this potential blinding problem. Additionally, increasing numbers of younger ophthalmologists are spending time, after completing their training in ophthalmology, getting specialty training so that they may care for patients with uveitis.

Both infectious and non-infectious as well as malignant causes for uveitis are represented in the spectrum of patients cared for at the specialized centers. Clearly, then, "getting to the bottom of it," and definitively identifying the cause of the uveitis is quite critical, since proper choice of treatment is so dependent on the underlying cause; the proper treatment for one cause would in many instances frankly be deleterious in the care of patients with uveitis from another cause. Uveitis on the basis of autoimmunity is the most common form of uveitis.