On epithelial xerosis of the conjunctiva / by Sydney Stephenson.
- Stephenson, Sydney, 1862-1923
- Date:
- [1898]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On epithelial xerosis of the conjunctiva / by Sydney Stephenson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![percent.) were more or less blind at niglit, whereas during 1896 and 1897 that complication appeared to be wholly absent. When all is said and done^ we must, 1 think, conclude (with Saemisch and Leber) that xerosis and hemeralopia occur so frequently side by side, that the association between them is likely to be something more than merely accidental. For that matter I shall next adduce facts that tend to show their connection is much closer than generally supposed. It is commonly taught that e]3ithelial xerosis, in the absence of an associated night-blindness, gives rise to no symptoms beyond the appearances presented by the con- junctiva. This assertion, however, needs modification, inasmuch as I have found changes to exist in the visual fields when taken in ordinary daylight. These altera- tions are of two kinds, namely, constant and inconstant. The former was found in 12 cases examined during last summer and autumn—that is to say, in every one investi- gated fully. It consists in a reduction of the red and green fields, as taken with a circular test-object having a diameter of 10 mm. But this is not all, for the field for red is shrunken more than that for green, so that the former lies inside the latter, whereas under normal conditions the revei’se should, of course, be the case. In three fourths of the patients this transposition was com- plete, but in the others the two fields overlapped at one or more spots. The second or inconstant change was demonstrated in 9 cases, and lies in a contraction of the limits of the field for white. As a rule, this was slight in degree, and better marked upon the temporal side of the chart, where it ranged from 5 to 10 degrees. In this connection it should be remarked that in children the field for white is usually larger than it is in grown- up persons. Hence a chart that, judged by the adult standard, may seem normal, may in reality indicate more or less contraction for white, a fact that was cleaidy brought out by some of my cases.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22330343_0014.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
