On some diseases of the eye, the result of syphilis / by A. Maitland Ramsay.

  • Andrew Maitland Ramsay
Date:
[1897]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some diseases of the eye, the result of syphilis / by A. Maitland Ramsay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    ON SOME DISEASES OF THE EYE, THE RESULT OF SYPHILIS.i By a. MAITLAND RAMSAY, M.D., F.F.P. &S. Glasg., Surgeon to the Ophthalmic Institution, and Ophthalmic Surgeon, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow. The frequent occurrence of diseases of the eye due to syphilis renders the subject one of great interest and importance. It is well known that, with the exception of the lens, each of the structures of the eyeball and its appendages may be affected, and ocular symptoms may occur either early or late in the course of the disease, and in the inherited as well as in the acquired form. < It is not my intention, however, in this con- tribution to discuss at length the relationship between syphilis and eye diseases, or to do more than mention some of those eye symptoms which are the result of the visceral complications of tertiary syphilis. My purpose is simply to give details of a few cases in which the eye has been specially affected, and to endeavour to group these in such a way as to present a clinical picture of syphilis in so far as it affects the eye. The acquired form of the disease may be first considered. The syphilitic poison may gain entrance to the system through the eye, and the primary sore then forms upon the eyelids or conjunctiva. Since the full and accurate descriptions of Ricord in 1850, the number of reported cases has gone on increasing, till it is now possible to arrive at some general conclusions. The favourite site for a chancre of the eyelid is at the inner canthus, and the lower lid is the one more frequently affected. It is seen in men oftener than in women, and is met with at all ages. In many instances the infection is purely accidental and non-venereal, and the patients have no suspicion of the syphilitic nature of the sore. It is often, therefore, very difficult to trace the source of contagion, and occasionally the aetiology cannot be determined. The most ^ A paper read at a meeting of the Glasgow Medico-Chirurgical Society, on 19th March, 1897, and illustrated by lantern slides. A