“It is necessary to mark the greater from the lesser truth: namely the larger and more liberal idea of nature from the comparatively narrow and confined; namely that which addresses itself to the imagination from that which is solely addressed to the eye.” JMW Turner, 1775–1851
At the beginning of July, the worlds of art and medicine converged once again for another six-monthly Uveitis NW at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, which was celebrating 250 years of JMW Turner 'in Light and Shade' with some of his lesser known canvases, in which the landscapes are often swirling with mist, spray and dramatic light that obscures and reveals form. This is a powerful metaphor for the clinical experience of uveitis where patients can experience their vision shrouded by the haze of inflammation or distorted by the turmoil of a flare-up.
This iteration, we hosted the 'Mosaics of the Eye: Piecing Together the Complexities of Uveitis' meeting, which I had the pleasure of co-hosting with my colleague Dr Joanne Wong from Manchester Royal Eye Hospital.
We had another great turnout of colleagues from across the North-West to delve into the intricate and often challenging world of uveitis. As always, we started with a systemic overview of a topic, with my colleague at the National Behçet Centre of Excellence, Prof Robert Moots, sharing his extensive knowledge on Behçet's and offering invaluable insights that will undoubtedly benefit all our patients. I then followed with my own session, entitled 'Framing Ocular Behçet's at the Whitworth: Beyond the Canvas', where we explored the multifaceted nature of this condition and focused on some challenging cases within the manifold presentations of the Silk Road Disease.
Dr Greg Heath, Consultant Medical Ophthalmologist from York, followed with a captivating presentation titled 'When Too Much Tissue Merely Confuses the Issue' (a sequel to his 'Tissue is the Issue' lecture) which explored cognitive bias and Oslerian principles in ocular inflammation, reminding us of the timeless importance of clinical acumen in the diagnostic process and highlighting Sir William’s famous aphorism from 1897.
The final session of the day was a deep dive into electrodiagnosis, including its role in the uveitis clinic, with Prof Neil Parry from Manchester – elucidating how these tools can aid in our management of complex uveitis cases.
The Whitworth gallery blends art, nature, and a history rooted in both Manchester's industrial past and its vibrant cultural present. It served as a powerful metaphor for our work in uveitis: just as a mosaic is composed of countless individual pieces to create a whole picture, so too is the diagnosis and management of uveitis a process of piecing together disparate clinical signs and patient experiences (much like trying to find the horizon in one of Turner's tempestuous seascapes).
I extend my sincere thanks to all our speakers for their exceptional contributions, and to everyone who attended and participated.
