White dot syndromes

Abstract"White dot syndromes" (WDS)is a term introduced around 1995 to describe posterior uveitis syndromes that were poorly understood such as MEWDS, APMPPE, multifocal choroiditis (MFC), serpiginous choroiditis (SC), birdshot retinochoroiditis (BRC) and many others depending on the extension with which the term is used. Unfortunatelly the term is of no utility as it is purely based on the the white dots most posterior uveitis exhibit and as it emcompasses entities that look alike but have nothing in common as far as mechanism is concerned. Thanks to indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) it became possible to get away from this pot‐pourri terminology and allowed to sort out choroiditis entities according to the pathophysiological mechanism subdividing choroiditis into diseases of the choriocapillaris (primary choriocapillaritis) including MEWDS, APMPPE, MFC, SC and atypical and overlapping entities on one side and stromal choroiditis on the other side including Vogt‐Koxanangi‐Harada disease (VKH), BRC, sarcoid and tubercular choroiditis. The appraisal of these diseases and the rationale of their new classification will be explained and examples will be given to illustrate this new comprehensive approach that should make WDS obsolete.