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.

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$may sometimes coexist Avith it, but frequently, indeed usually, develops without any premonition or association X)f this character. Therefore it would seem to be safer to regard sympathetic irritation and sympathetic inflamma- tion as two essentially diflerent conditions.—Ed.] Diagnosis of Iritis.—It is of vital importance to be able to distinguish iritis and iridocyclitis from glaucoma, because remedies appropriate for the treatment of iritis have the most disastrous effects in glaucoma, and the error might easily lead to total blindness. In iritis the pupil is contracted ; in glaucoma dilated. The intraocular tension (which is markedly elevated in glaucoma) aflbrds valuable information, and its investigation must not be neglected in any case declared to be iritis. The former occurrence of iritis may have an important bearing on the diagnosis, as it throws light on the question of syphilitic disease; hence a persistent pujnllary membrane must not be mistaken for the remains of synechiae. A persistent pupillary membrane is not infrequently seen in the form of gray dots or threads in the pupillary region, passing from the iris to the lens-capsule. But while the remains of syncchim originate at the ])upillary margin and form a wreath or wreath-like patches, the threads of a persistent pupillary membrane are attached to the small circle of the iris and aj)pcar in the form of irregular groups. Idle treatment of iritis and iridocyclitis includes local remedies and general constitutional medication for the removal of the ])rimary disease. In every ease mydriasis must be maintained with atropin or hyoscin, su])])lemented with a few dro])s of cocain in refractory ])U})ils. If intraocular tension is increased, atropin must be withdrawn for a time. The eye must be protected from light, either with dark glasses or by keeping the ])atient in a dark room, according to the severity of the iridocyclitis. Atropin and dark glasses not only diminish the pain by keey)ing the iris quiet, but also tend to check the inflammatory process by lessening the entrance of blood into the contracted iris. iSIydriasis also renders the$