Reflex neuroses arising from ocular and nasal abnormalities : oration in ophthalmology / by S. Lewis Ziegler.

  • Ziegler, S. Lewis (Samuel Lewis), 1861-1926.
Date:
[1908]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Reflex neuroses arising from ocular and nasal abnormalities : oration in ophthalmology / by S. Lewis Ziegler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    tion to this area. This will frequently precipitate an attack which the patient will recognize as very similar to the condition from which he seeks relief. If this area is so sensitive to the mild touch of an applicator, what may we not expect as the result of prolonged pressure contact ? In fact, we must accept as an infallible rule the dictum that pressure contact in the nose will always excite some reflex disturb- ance zvhen any hypercesthetic area is impinged upon. If, therefore, the middle turbinate interferes, it must either be removed, or broken and set over. On the other hand, if the sensitive saeptal pufif is too large or becomes too easily engorged, it must be reduced or pinned down by interrupted linear cauteriza- tion; 3. The third active agent is nasal obstruction, which, as Pritchard observes, may become an im- portant pathogenic factor. We should never forget that normal respiration occurs only through the superior meatus of the nose. Interference with free breathing necessarily produces suboxidation, which, by increasing the sensitiveness of the whole system, renders it more liable to reflex disturbances. In order, therefore, to restore nature's supreme func- tion of unimpeded respiration, it may be found necessary either to remove the middle turbinate, to shrink the inferior turbinate by catiterization, or even to excise the tonsils, if too large; for zvithout free breathing health cannot exist. While it is not my purpose to unduly emphasize the nasal phase of the subject in an address on oph- thalmology, I shall, nevertheless, call attention un- der each individual heading to the possibility of such error, and where necessary, cite illustrative cases or draw comparative inferences. INDIVIDUAL MANIFESTATIONS OF REFLEX NEUROSES. Headache.—Headache has been conceded by all to be the one prominent symptom of eyestrain. Oc- II