A handy-book of ophthalmic surgery for the use of practitioners.

  • Laurence, John Zachariah.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A handy-book of ophthalmic surgery for the use of practitioners. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    mation of the circumambient cartilage. This supposition ap- peared to be justified by the fact that on pressure a yellowish gelatinoid substance exuded from our incision. The thickening of the eyelids met with in trachoma, &c, is doubtless, an instance of chronic inflammation of the tarsal cartilage. Hordeolum. Hordeolum, or Stye, is a small boil situated at the edge of the eyelid. It should be treated in its incipient stage by cold applications; when suppuration has commenced, by warm poul- tices, and, if necessary, by a puncture with a lancet to evacuate the pus. Styes sometimes occur as evidence of a debilitated constitution, which must be treated on general principles; and, if we are not mistaken, styes may arise from injudicious and prolonged use of the eyes- Ulceration of the Eyelids. There are two specific forms of ulceration of the lids worthy of notice : the syphilitic and the cancerous. Syphilitic ulceration of the eyelids is sometimes the consequence of direct application of the virus to the part, but more com- monly is the result of constitutional infection. The ulcer has a great tendency to spread in spite of ordinary local applications, and frequently yields only to specific treatment. If the disease be purely local, it may be sufficient merely to touch every por- tion of the sore very carefully with nitric acid; bat, if it be secondary, the ordinary general treatment for syphilis should be employed. Cancerous ulceration of the eyelids is generally of the epithelial variety. It commences as an induration and slight elevation of the edge of the lid, generally towards one or other angle. The skin covering it may be natural in color, or pervaded by vari- cose vessels. This stage of induration is followed by a process of ulceration, which is remarkable for its slow progress, but it may extend so far as to destroy the whole of the eyelid, attacking the periosteum and bones of the orbit, and spreading down the