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
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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.

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    ing wound becomes infected; aseptic wounds of the iris and ciliary body heal without inftammation. The com- plication may be caused by operative (as in cataract- extraction, for example), as well as by accidental injuries. Whenever a wound penetrates to the ciliary body, or a foreign body is allowed to remain in the eye, there is danger of iridocyclitis and inflammation of the other eye. Sympathetic ophthalmitis sometimes follows an acute purulent iridocyclitis, which will eventuate in panojflithal- mitis, but is much more likely to develop into the chronic, insidious form of iridocyclitis, which at first does not appear to be at all alarming. The visual acuity of the injured eye may not be materially aflected, and no more sei’ious symptoms may be noted than a slight congestion, diminished tension, and a few punctate precipitates on the ]>osterior surface of the cornea, so that the surgeon hesi- tates to sacrifice the eye. On the other hand, if a phthis- ical bulb, in which the primary inflammation has already subsided, again becomes inflamed, either spontaneously or as the result of a second traumatism, sympathetic 0})hthal- mitis may develop, while non-inflammatory, painless atrophy of the globe is unable to produce the condition. In most cases the sympathetic inflammation makes its appearance while the primary iridocyclitis is still active, say from four to eight weeks after the injury. Its coming is heralded by prodromata which are designated sympa- thetic irritation, because they are not actually inflammatory in character; they arc defective accommodation, j)hoto- phobia, and beginning ciliary congestion. These are .soon followed by the objective inflammatory .symptoms, distinct ciliary conge.stion, puj)illary c.ontraction and .synechire, opacities on the posterior surface of the coruca, and all the other signs of iridocyclitis. Sympathetic iritis is one of the mo,st malignant forms of inflammation and often goes on to total blindness. The route ot transmission from the affected to the unaflected eye has not as yet been discovered. [Sympathetic ophthalmitis may .sometimes arise in the wake of an attack of sympathetic irritation,