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How Do Eye Doctors Measure Vitreitis?

Eye doctors measure vitreitis by grading how cloudy the gel inside the eye looks during an exam, and a scan can also measure that cloudiness. Across three studies, scan readings and exam grades had correlations of 0.53 to 0.60 on a scale where 1 means a perfect positive correlation. The readings tended to rise together, with room for differences between the two methods.

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How Do Eye Doctors Measure Vitreitis?

Eye doctors measure vitreitis by grading how cloudy the gel inside the eye looks during an exam, and a scan can also measure that cloudiness. Across three studies, scan readings and exam grades had correlations of 0.53 to 0.60 on a scale where 1 means a perfect positive correlation. The readings tended to rise together, with room for differences between the two methods.

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What Do Eye Doctors Look for When They Check for Vitreitis?

Eye doctors look for cells in the vitreous and check how clearly they can see the back of the eye. Vitreitis, also spelled vitritis, refers to inflammation in the vitreous, the clear gel that fills the space behind the eye's lens. Vitreous haze is the cloudiness the doctor sees through that gel. Doctors can record the presence of cells and grade the amount of haze separately.

How Do Eye Doctors Grade Vitreous Haze?

Eye doctors grade vitreous haze by how much the cloudiness obscures structures at the back of the eye. A clearer view gets a lower grade, while a view that's harder to see gets a higher one. The scale uses 0.5+ for a trace of haze. The grades put the exam findings in order of severity, with no fixed amount of inflammation between grades.

How Closely Do OCT Readings Match a Doctor's Haze Grade?

OCT readings tend to rise as a doctor's haze grade rises, though the two can differ. Optical coherence tomography, or OCT, uses light to create images of the eye. In a study of 60 eyes from 60 patients, the correlation between an OCT measurement and the doctor's haze grade was 0.566. That figure describes how closely the two readings moved together. It doesn't tell you how often an OCT scan would identify vitreitis correctly.

Can Cataracts Affect a Vitreitis Scan?

Yes, cataracts can affect the signal an OCT scan records from the vitreous. In a study of 119 participants, eyes with cataracts had higher OCT vitreous readings even after accounting for the doctor's haze grade. A cataract clouds the eye's natural lens, which is separate from the vitreous gel. A high scan reading can therefore reflect cloudiness in the lens as well as changes in the vitreous.

Learn More About Vitreitis

What's the Difference Between Vitreitis and Uveitis?

Vitreitis describes inflammation in the vitreous. Uveitis covers several patterns of inflammation inside the eye, and doctors call it intermediate uveitis when the inflammation centers in the vitreous.

Can a Haze Grade Tell What Caused Vitreitis?

No. A haze grade describes how cloudy the view through the vitreous is. To look for a cause, an eye doctor considers the rest of the exam and your medical history and may order tests for an infection or another condition.

What Can a B-Scan Show When Doctors Check for Vitreitis?

A B-scan can show material in the vitreous that reflects sound waves. The imaging studies used ultrasound to detect features inside the eye, with limited evidence on how to turn those findings into a haze grade.

When to See Your Doctor

See an eye doctor right away if you notice new floaters, blurry vision, eye pain, redness, or sensitivity to light. An eye doctor can check for signs of inflammation during a dilated eye exam. Getting checked promptly matters since untreated uveitis can lead to vision loss.

References

American Journal of Ophthalmology. Standardization of Uveitis Nomenclature for Reporting Clinical Data. Results of the First International Workshop. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2005.03.057. Published September 2005. Accessed November 10, 2026.

National Eye Institute. Uveitis. https://www.nei.nih.gov/eye-health-information/eye-conditions-and-diseases/uveitis. Updated December 4, 2024. Accessed November 10, 2026.

Ocular Immunology and Inflammation. Noninvasive Instrument-based Tests for Detecting and Measuring Vitreous Inflammation in Uveitis: A Systematic Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/09273948.2020.1799038. Published October 6, 2020. Accessed November 10, 2026.

Ophthalmology. Objective Measurement of Vitreous Inflammation Using Optical Coherence Tomography. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2014.03.006. Published May 15, 2014. Accessed November 10, 2026.

Translational Vision Science & Technology. OCT Assisted Quantification of Vitreous Inflammation in Uveitis. https://doi.org/10.1167/tvst.11.1.3. Published January 4, 2022. Accessed November 10, 2026.