Atlas of the external diseases of the eye : including a brief treatise on the pathology and treatment / by O. Haab ; Authorized translation from the German, edited by G.E. de Schweinitz.

Haab O. (Otto), 1850-1931.

Date:: 1899

Credit: Atlas of the external diseases of the eye : including a brief treatise on the pathology and treatment / by O. Haab ; Authorized translation from the German, edited by G.E. de Schweinitz. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

130/312 (page 110)

$the formation of folds in the region of the fornix, and swelling of the semilunar fold and caruncle. In purulent catarrh there may be edema of the bulbar conjunctiva and the lids themselves are more or less swollen. Tlie lids are glued together in the morning; the ]>atient coin])lains of burning and itching and a gritty feeling. Owing to a film of mucus on the cornea there is a tempo- rary haziness, which disapi)ears as soon as the patient wipes his eyes. If the layer of mucus is very thin, the patient sees colored rings around the lamp (iridescent vision), as in glaucoma. Photo])hobia, blejdiarospasm, and pain are not marked as long as the cornea is not in- volved, so that the lids are more easily separated than is the case in corneal inflammations. Jjater in the course of chronic catarrh the lid-margins and the cornea may become inflamed, es])ecially in elderly people, giving rise to the so-called rnarc/htal or catarrhal ulcer, or to })urulent idcers. Ktiology.—A variety of pathogenic microorganisms are found in the conjunctival sac during catarrh. Among those which are known to ])roduce conjunctivitis are: (1) the gonococcufi (see gonorrheal conjunctivitis); (2) the pneumococcus of Frdnkel-Weichselhaum, which causes a mild and not necessarily contagious form of catarrh, and is found oftencr in children than in adults;^ (3) the strep- tococcus, which produces either simple or pseudomem- branous diphtheritic inflammation. A’hcther the staphij- lococci which are often found in the conjunctival sac arc capable of causing conjunctivitis or not, is still an open question. The following /;uc/7//may give rise to conjunctivitis: (1) the diphtheritic hacillus {see diphtheritic conjunctivitis); (2) the Koch-Weeks’ bacillus, which under certain condi- tions sets up a severe, contagious inflammation in children ’ [There are a munber ol' observations on record, particularly Uiose ol Harold Clifford, which indicate that pneumococens-conjunctivitis may also be an affection which is distinctly contafrioiis, which attacks adnlts, which passes from one eye to another, and which clinically is diflicnlt to differentiate from Koch-Weeks bacillus conjunctivitis.—Ed.]$