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.

    43/444 (page 25)
    PTERYGIUM. pletely occluded by the growth. A jiterygmm is more or less vascular, and one or two large conjunctival vessels :inay be freciuently seen coursing along it. In some cases •it is red, lleshy, and prominent, whilst in others it is ;pale and membranous, and so thin as to be almost ; translucent. A pterygium is almost invariably a single growtli con- • lined to the inner half of the eye, although to this there :are occasional exceptions, and cases have been reported ■ where there have been two pterygia, one on each side of ■the cornea, and also where they have occurred m the ■ upper and lower parts of the eye, in lines corresponding ■ with the superior and inferior recti muscles. The disease may be limited to one eye, or both may be_ affected by it. I have seen many cases in which a pterygium existed in both eyes ; in all of them the growths were symmetrical. Patients about the middle age are most liable to ptery- gium, and especially those who have served long in tropi- cal climates. It is seldom seen in the young. The disease is of slow and almost imperceptible growth, and it is not until it has attained a considerable size that it causes any annoyance. When it extends partially over the pupil it interferes with vision. Treatment.—There are only two ways of efficiently dealing with a pterygium. It may be excised, or its apex may be transplantecl from the cornea to a ]3art of the conjunctiva, where even if it were to grow it would cause no impairment of vision. No local application to the eye will be of any benefit in eradicating the disease. 1. Excision of the Pterygium—The lids being separated by a s]mng speculum, the pterygium is to be seized from above downwards by a pair of forceps and drawn slightly from the eye. With a pair of fine scissors or a Beer's knife its attachment to the cornea is to be separated, and^ then with a few snips of the scissors the greater part of the pterygium, or the whole of it, if it be small, is re- moved. If the base of the growth be large no attempt should be made to excise the whole of it, as the too free removal of the conjunctiva will cause a tight cicatrix, which will greatly impair the outward movements of the eye. After the pterygium has been removed, the cut edges of the conjunctiva should, if the gap is not too wide, be drawn together with one or two fine sutures. 2. Trans'ijlantation of the Pteryrjimn.—This operation