On the treatment of sympathetic ophthalmia and dislocation of the lens / by George Edward Walker.

  • Walker, George Edward, 1839-1909.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the treatment of sympathetic ophthalmia and dislocation of the lens / by George Edward Walker. 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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    the right. On the 8th, the left was removed, the retina being found universally detached. The next day the man was rather cheerful on account of the remission of the pain in the right eye and right side of his head ; but, as I put it down to the shock of the opera- tion, I did not share his joy, but rather looked forward to an ex- acerbation the next night, which indeed happened as I feared. The disease increased in severity until the 13th, when, on account of an increase of pain the previous night, I told the matron to leech the temple. Next day I found the reaction caused by the leeching had excited a considerable htemorrhage into the anterior chamber. The extreme frailty of the eye may be judged of from this circum- stance. Then seeing that nothing but hopeless blindness was left for the poor man if ordinary methods were tried, I resolved to use a very old remedy, which, as far as I know, has not been used with anything like vigour under' similar circumstances—namely, mer- cury. *I am very well aware it was used in pre-enucleation times, but then the offending eye was left in its proper orbit; here however I had a different case, for I had got rid of the exciting cause, and had only to deal with the disease itself. I told the matron to bring him under the influence of mercury as soon as possible, and she acted so vigorously that he was salivated in two days. After this the eye has no history; it simply got well faster than any inflammation comparable to it in violence (I do not mean sympathetic), that I have ever seen. On the 19th, with a convex glass of about 10, he told the time by a watch, and I made out the disc in a hasty Before this I had been gradually extending the use of Mercury in Ophthalmic Therapeutics. Limiting it at first to disease of Syphilitic origin, I have been driven by the failure of ordinary treatment to its use in other Ophthalmise, as those of rheumatic character, and I have had abundant reason to be satisfied with the results. I may say that I invariably employ the inunction method, either the old blue ointment or one of Mr. Marshall’s oleate of mercury, and that I never hesitate to salivate if I think fit. I look on as childish the late craze about the great danger of mercury in the hands of a man of ordinary sense : of course I am aware of the existence of idiosyncrasies, but ordinarily one need not take account of them.