Diseases and injuries of the eye : their medical and surgical treatment / by George Lawson.

  • George Lawson
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases and injuries of the eye : their medical and surgical treatment / by George Lawson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    39/444 (page 21)
    with cold water every liour, or eveu oftener if he clesireti it. and if there is much paiu he may use ioed water, and wheu lying down keep a fold of lint wetted with it over the eyelids. No astringent application siiould be given to check the discharge, but the disease mnst be allowed to run its course uninterruptedly. The danger to be apprehended is sloughing, or ulceration of a portion of the cornea. During the progress of the inflammation it is often ver}' difficult to ctecide whether the cornea is still entire, as from its red and swollen villous ap- pearance it is difficult to even distinguish it from the surrounding vascular conjunctiva. The only test, then, is to notice its curvature, and if this remains unchanged], and there is no depression in one part with a lump of swollen granulations in another, no anxiety need be felt. The patient should be allowed a liberal meat diet, with a fair amount of stimulants, during the whole period of treatment;; if his apjjetite or strength fad, quinine or bark (F. 73, 77) should be prescribed; and if from pain his nights are disturbed, oi:)iates may be given at bedtime. It should be remembered that, although inoculation will obliterate the granulations from the lids and the vessels from the cornea, yet it will not efface previously existing nebulosities. Some operation is often afterwards required to alter the shape of the pupil, so as to bring it opposite that portion of the cornea which is most transparent. The results of my experience of inoculation in severe cases of granular lids have been most brilliant. I have seen patients pva,c- tically blind for years, and condemned to the workhouse, regain sufficient sight to resume their former occujjations. Syndectomv—Per'Uomy.—This operation was first prac- tised by Dr. Furnari, of Paris, in 186-2.* It consists in excising a band of conjunctiva and subconjunctival tissue of about one-eighth of an inch in width from around the cornea ancl close up to its margin. It may be performed in the following manner:—The patient being placed under chloroform, and the lids widely .separated with a spring speculum, a fold of conjunctiva is to be seized with a pair of tinely-toothed forceps, and with a pair of blunt-pointed curved scissors an incision is to be carried through that membrane around the cornea. * Gazette Mddicale, Nos. 4-6, 8, &c., 18G2.