Manual of surgery : founded upon the principles and practice lately taught by Sir Astley Cooper ... and Joseph Henry Green ... / edited by Thomas Castle.

Date:
1829
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual of surgery : founded upon the principles and practice lately taught by Sir Astley Cooper ... and Joseph Henry Green ... / edited by Thomas Castle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    29. Fourth:—Another unfortunate circumstance which | may interfere with tiie success of the operation, is the ] introduction of the cornea knife between the lamellae of i the cornea; the consequence of which wall be, that the i section of the cornea will he very small and imperfect. I These four are the principal circumstances untowardly to your success; hut there are many others of less importance. 30. Afler-lrcatmenl-—With respect to the after-treat- ! ment of the operation of extraction of cataract, your object ! must be, as. far as possible, to prevent inflammation. A compress of fine linen or cambric, kept wet with cold water, should be applied to the eyes, orrather to the eye opposite that which . has been operated upon. The patient should be carried to bed, i placed in the recumbent posture, with his head a little elevated, and 1 the room should he darkened. He should be allowed nothing but •. barley water, tea, or water-pruel, for the first few days; and if there should be any symptoms of inflammation, such as pain, a sensation as if there were some extraneous body in the eye, accompanied with 1 quickness of pulse, a quantity of blood should be immediately taken ' from the arm. It will be better not to disturb the bandage, or raise ' the lid to examine the eye, for at least three days, unless the patient i should feel any considerable pain or irritation; for in that case, it i would be advisable to ascertain the cause,byexaminingtheeye. The patient should be kept in bed in the recumbent posture, for five days, and not even be suffered to rise for the evacuation of the fasces; a bed-pan should be used for that purpose; at the end of that time, he may get up to have his bed made. The best way of preventing irrita- tion, is carefully to avoid making any undue pressure on the globe of the eye. Great care must be taken in adjusting the bandage, not to depress the lower lid, by which means, the section of the cornea may be brought over, and the adaptation of the cut edges prevented. 31. Solution of the Cataract:—The third operation is tliat for procuring solution of the cataract, which is parti- cularly adapted to the cataracts of children, or congenital cataract. It was formerly deemed advisable to defer the operation for cataract in children, but we are now able to perform one with a hope of success, between the age of eighteen months and four years. But the operation under consideration, is not confined to congenital; it may be employed also in the cataracts of adults, provided they are fluid, soft, or membranous cataracts. 32. This operation is very simple ; it consists merely in making an opening in the anterior layer of the capsule of the lens, breaking up more or less the texture of the