On abscess and tumours of the orbit. Pt. I / by Spencer Watson.

  • Watson, Sir William Spencer, 1836-1906.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On abscess and tumours of the orbit. Pt. I / by Spencer Watson. 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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    fascia can be felt by the finger, it should be opened by an in- cision at that part. 10. The general treatment will be chiefly of a dietetic kind, but medicines may be required in certain cases. 11. In the later stages, or when the disease has become chronic, disease of the bones is the most probable cause of the continuance of the symptoms, and the removal of this source of irritation will be necessary for the completion of the recovery. Having considered those affections of the orbit, which are the result of inflammation, under the head of abscess, I shall next consider the subject of tumours, not dependent upon inflam- matory mischief; and it will be convenient first to take the tumours of a fluid or semi-solid character. This group will include cysts, vascular and aneurismal growths, sanguineous effusions, and gaseous, or emphysematous swellings. ON CYSTS IN THE ORBIT, WITH FLUID OR SEMI- SOLID CONTENTS. The contents of cysts in this region have been very various, the most frequent being those with serous fluid, and next the hydatid cysts. But besides these there are cases recorded of others with oily and semi-gelatinous contents—sebaceous, atheromatous, and melicerie fluid ; and others of great rarity which it would be out of place to mention in a paper of this kind. Cysts, with blood effused into them, and those that have suppurated after injuries, must be looked upon as merely acci- dental modifications of one or other of the groups mentioned. Dropsy of Tenon’s capsule maybe conveniently considered with the other fluid growths of this region. I.—Tile Diagnosis of Cysts. The marks that distinguish cysts from chronic abscesses are by no means unmistakable either with respect to the physical signs, or the history of the symptoms, and the only method of arriving at a conclusion, in most cases, is to employ an explora- tory puncture. This simple proceeding should be adopted in all cases of doubt. I have myself known an operation to be com- menced in this region as if for the removal of a solid tumour, when the knife of the surgeon has after a few strokes opened into a cyst, and the tumour has subsided after the escape of the fluid, and a similar instance is related by Demarquay (Op. Git. ]). 405.)