A clinical lecture on the forms of conjunctivitis, with special references to the treatment of ophthalmia neonatorum / by John Tweedy.

  • John Tweedy
Date:
[1895]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A clinical lecture on the forms of conjunctivitis, with special references to the treatment of ophthalmia neonatorum / by John Tweedy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    If the disease does begin, the first sign of anything wrong is—two or three days after birth the eyes loolc weak and watery; there is increased secretion of tears and mucus, and the Hds are gkied after sleep. The margins of the Kds become red and swollen, and the eyeball is bloodshot, and thin, yellowish serous fluid, not unhke bile, escapes from the conjunctival sac when the lids are opened. In a day or two the redness and sAvelling of the lids increase, the eye becomes very red, the bulbar and palpebral conjunctiva vascular and swollen, and the serous discharge is replaced by thicker muco-pus, which soon becomes purulent. So that in a few days there is a copious discharge of thick yellow pus. What is to be the treatment? This will depend some- what upon the stage of the disease. In the earlier stages some authorities advise mild and simple measures, and are content to use weak lotions of perchloride of mercury, boric acid, or alum, or something of that kind, deeming it un- necessary and undesirable as yet to employ any very active measures. This is not my opinion, and is not in accord with my experience. The more I see of these cases, the more am I disposed to use vigorous measures as soon as there is reason to believe that the case is genuine purulent ophthalmia. From the b6ginning I should institute what is called the nitrate of silver treatment, though the solution used in the serous stage should, perhaps, be less strong than in the purulent stage—say 5 grains in the former and 10 grams to the ounce in the latter. Some precautions are necessary to obtain full efficiency of the remedy, and care should be taken not to neutralise or decompose the nitrate of silver solution either by using a soiled brush or allowing plain water or so-called antiseptics to come in contact with it. A little of the solution should be poured into a small wide-mouth bottle or into a minim medicine measure; the brush should, before being used, be wiped on dry lint or rag, and only distilled water should be used to wash off the excess of the solution from the con- junctiva; otherwise the nitrate of silver may be decomposed and its potency destroyed. Before applying the nitrate solution, all discharge should
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