On a new method of extracting in cases of cataract : with reports of fifty-four cases operated upon in succession, from November 1865 to May 1867, in fifty-three of which the lens was extracted, and a successful result obtained / by Charles Taylor.

  • Bell Taylor
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On a new method of extracting in cases of cataract : with reports of fifty-four cases operated upon in succession, from November 1865 to May 1867, in fifty-three of which the lens was extracted, and a successful result obtained / by Charles Taylor. 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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    aqueous liumour, prolonged rest in the recumbent posture, or a second iridectomy downwards. If any capsule is left, it is better not to attempt its removal for two or three months. As to results, since devising the above described method, I have operated on 54 cases of cataract in succession, with only one complete failure. The ages of the patients range from 5 months to 86 years. The majority, however, were persons of great age, several verging on 80, six being upwards of that age, and four upwards of 85 years. Some were suffering from marasmus and constitutional cachexise, others from various diseases of the eyeball, tending to vitiate the results of an operation. These persons were operated upon in succession as they applied, no selection was made, and I have never refused a case. Indeed, two or three, including the one complete failure (occurring in a feeble woman, a3t. 86, blind for twelve years with degenerated cataract and firm synechite), had been declined by other surgeons. In two cases (ait. 65, No. 28, and jet. 68, No 17) healing was jirotracted, and the patients remained a month under treatment. One (set. 83, Case 18) died from apoplexy, the result of epilepsy, thirty hours after the operation, Avlien the wound was founa healed, media clear, and result of operation excellent. This proves that the wound, even in persons of great age, will heal in twenty-four hours. In one (aet. 65, Case 25) suppuration threatened for twenty-four hours, the patient ultimately recovering with a closed pupil, and fair chance of restored vision by a second iridec- tomy downwards. The remainder recovered without a bad symptom, and were discharged on the seventh day; such as were free from remnants of capsule or amaurotic complications being restored to excellent vision. Some have been too recently operated upon to permit a fair record of the optical results at present In two cases the lens was removed by the scoop, and in seven extracted by Mr Teale’s suction method. Brief reports of the whole of those cases operated upon by myself since November 1865 will be given in the concluding part of this paper. I have preferred to give M the cases, including the suction and scoop extractions ; and, where there can be no objection to this being done, have followed Dr Mooren’s example, and appended the names and addresses of the patients, so that there may be no room for doubt or cavil as to the results. Case 1.—Paul Mellors, of Mansfield, a healthy man in his eighty-fifth year, came under my care on November 20, 1865 j the ri^ht eye was then quite blind from fully formed cataract, and had been in this condition upwards of four years; as the left had latterly failed considerably in consequence of incompletely formed cataract, he applied for relief. Both pupils dilated moderately with atropine, and perception of light was good. On account of his great age, I determined to give him the benefit of a preliminary iridectomy, and accordingly excised a portion of the upper segment of the iris at once. On January 5, 1866, I extracted the lens by the linear flap method without chloroform the incision was rather far back, and, in consequence, bleeding from the wounded conjunctiva filled the anterior chamber; the blood, however,
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