Can Having Crohn’s Disease Affect Your Eyes?
Digestive HealthCrohn's Disease

Can Crohn’s Disease Cause Eye Problems?

Can Crohn’s Disease Cause Eye Problems?
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Updated on February 24, 2026
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Anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of people with a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC), have complications outside the gut. And for about 10 percent of people with IBD, those complications include eye problems, which affect people with Crohn’s more often than those with UC.

“The tissues that make up the eye are very similar to tissues in other parts of the body, so inflammatory diseases that affect other organs, such as the bowel in Crohn’s disease, will affect the eye as well,” says Calvin Roberts, MD, an ophthalmologist, volunteer faculty member at Weill Cornell Medicine, and former CEO of the Lighthouse Guild in New York City.

The connection between Crohn’s and your eyes also comes down to the way your immune system behaves and how much inflammation Crohn’s disease is causing. “With Crohn’s, the body attacks the eye similarly to the way it attacks the tissue in the gastrointestinal tract,” says Paul J. Dougherty, MD, the medical director of DLV Vision and clinical instructor of ophthalmology at the UCLA Stein Eye Institute in Los Angeles.

Eye problems in Crohn’s may show up before the gastrointestinal symptoms of inflammation set in — in fact, about 25 percent of people experience such a complication, also known as an extraintestinal manifestation, before they receive a Crohn’s diagnosis.

Complicating the situation further, some Crohn’s disease treatments can contribute to eye conditions as well. “Oral steroids are frequently used in the treatment of Crohn’s, and steroids can cause both glaucoma, high pressure in the eye, and cataract, which is a cloudy lens,” says Dr. Dougherty.

Here’s what you need to know about specific eye problems associated with Crohn’s.

Uveitis

One of the most common eye problems in IBD is uveitis, or inflammation of the uvea.

 This is the “blood-vessel-rich lining inside the eye that brings nutrition to the cornea, retina, iris, and lens,” Dr. Roberts says.

 Inflammation usually develops because your body is mounting a response to an infection or your immune system assaults healthy tissue in your eyes.

“[T]he uvea becomes swollen, the retina swells, and vision becomes blurred,” Roberts says, noting that the blurry vision associated with uveitis may strike suddenly or come on gradually.

One research review of 14 studies that enrolled nearly 116,000 people with IBD found that those with Crohn’s are significantly more likely to develop uveitis than people with UC. The prevalence of uveitis was estimated at about 3.3 percent among participants with Crohn’s, while the prevalence was about 1.6 percent in those with UC.

An ophthalmologist can diagnose uveitis with tools including a slit lamp, which is a microscope that examines the inside of your eye.

 This painless exam is important, because if left untreated, uveitis can lead to glaucoma, an eye disease that causes pressure within the eyeball and can potentially lead to vision loss, says Dougherty.

Episcleritis

Another common eye complication in Crohn’s disease is episcleritis, or inflammation of the outer coating of the white area of your eye.

“When people have active Crohn’s disease, episcleritis also seems to flare — there is a clear relationship,” Dougherty says.

Symptoms of simple episcleritis include redness of the eyes and minor soreness or discomfort, teariness, and sensitivity to light, which typically do not affect vision. With nodular episcleritis, tiny bumps may pop up in the eye’s center — this kind of episcleritis may be more painful and is often connected with systemic illness.

Dry Eyes

Dry eye syndrome, also called keratoconjunctivitis sicca, is an eye complication associated with Crohn’s that’s often affected by inflammation of the tear gland and reduced tear production or increased tear film evaporation. Dry eyes can lead to itching, burning, or the feeling that there’s something in your eye.

Dougherty says that a few factors can lead to this eye complication in Crohn’s, including the same inflammation that irritates the gastrointestinal tract. But also, “with Crohn’s disease, many people get malabsorption of nutrients, including vitamin A, and without enough vitamin A, you can get dry eye syndrome or, in severe cases, night blindness,” he says.

 When vitamin A deficiency is the culprit, dry eyes are caused by a condition called xerophthalmia, which can be dangerous and lead to blindness.

Keratopathy

Another eye condition associated with Crohn’s disease is keratopathy, an umbrella term for abnormalities of the cornea. It may result from uveitis or dry eyes and can cause difficulty seeing things clearly. An ophthalmologist can diagnose keratopathy with a slit lamp or another in-office exam.

Treatment

Uveitis and episcleritis are usually treated with steroid eye drops, Roberts says. “Most patients respond to eye drops, but those who do not may require corticosteroids taken by mouth or other anti-inflammatory medications,” he says.

Treatments for dry eye syndrome may include artificial tears or eye drops containing cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune), a drug to reduce the inflammation connected to dryness.

If keratopathy is advanced or bothersome enough to require taking action, its treatment depends on which form of the condition you have. Band keratopathy, which causes white calcium salt deposits to build up, may be treated with eye drops containing a calcium-binding agent and a procedure that involves scraping the surface of the cornea.

 In other forms of keratopathy, topical eye medications like lubricant, steroidal, or nonsteroidal eye drops may be necessary, among other treatments.

Lowering Your Risk of Crohn’s-Related Eye Problems

Because the inflammatory process in the eye is similar to the process in the bowel, episodes of eye inflammation tend to coincide with Crohn’s gastrointestinal flares, says Roberts.

 “So the same advice given to deter bowel relapses applies to eye flares,” he says. “Follow your gastroenterologist’s treatment advice for Crohn’s.” That includes avoiding nicotine, which can increase the risk of a flare. And cut out caffeine if it's a personal trigger for eye-related symptoms.

Roberts also stresses the importance of routine eye examinations, both to look for eye problems in Crohn’s and for your general wellness.

“A comprehensive eye examination will not only detect problems in your eye like uveitis, it can also be an important indicator of overall health,” he says. “Changes that may be slowly evolving in the body often present themselves within the eye’s fragile structure first and can be found during a routine eye exam.”

Eye checkups should be more frequent when you have Crohn’s, says Dougherty. “A person with Crohn’s disease who is taking steroids should have an eye exam every 6 to 12 months,” he says.

To protect your vision, see your ophthalmologist as soon as any unusual eye symptoms arise and discuss how often you’ll need different types of eye screening. “Risk factors that can elevate your need for an eye health exam include a family history of eye disease, especially macular degeneration or glaucoma, as well as obesity, smoking, and diabetes,” Roberts says.

The Takeaway

  • About 10 percent of people with inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease, develop conditions affecting the eyes, and eye problems are more common in Crohn’s than in ulcerative colitis.
  • Common conditions include uveitis, episcleritis, dry eye syndrome, and keratopathy; they range from mild to severe, though all can typically be treated with medication.
  • Controlling Crohn’s-related inflammation and staying on top of regular eye exams can help prevent poor outcomes, should you ever develop an eye condition.

Additional reporting by Kaitlin Sullivan.

EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
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