On traumatic keratitis : with a report of nineteen cases treated at the London Ophthalmic Hospital, between December, 1862, and May, 1865 / by Spencer Watson.

  • Watson, Sir William Spencer, 1836-1906.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On traumatic keratitis : with a report of nineteen cases treated at the London Ophthalmic Hospital, between December, 1862, and May, 1865 / by Spencer Watson. 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 following cases have been selected for the severity of the symptoms from among a large number of comparatively trivial cases. Vast numbers of patients present themselves with frag- ments of metal, or other foreign bodies embedded in the cornea, who get immediate relief from the removal of the offending particle, and who have no subsequent mischief beyond, perhaps, in some instances, a thin nebula. Case 6 may be taken as a sample of these cases, but of i-ather more severe nature than the generality. Little more need be done in the way of treatment after the removal of the foreign body, than the avoidance of exposure to light for a few days, and the application of cold in the form of the iced douche, which I think is preferable to warm ajiplications in most cases. The great bulk of the reported cases are adults past the middle period of life, and the severity of the symptoms seems to be, to a great extent, proportionate to the enfeebled condition of the patient; the character of the inflammation taking its colour from the peculiar cimdition of the patient's system much more than from the nature of the injury. A very slight injury is often followed by very severe keratitis, with effusion of pus or lymph between the layers of the cornea and into the anterior chamber in ill-nourished subjects, and the results are pro- portionately disastrous. Cases 1, 12, 16, 17, and 19 are gocd illustrations of this peculiarity. On the other hand, Cases 10,11, and 18 are instances of good recoveries in young, healthy people, alter injuries as great or greater than in the other cases. Next to destructive injuries from explosions of gunpowder or fire, by far the most serious cases of traumatic (or accidental) keratitis are those caused by lime or mortar being thrown into the eye. Case 15 is a sample of many similar ones, and a case at present un<ler treatment seems likely to terminate in almost precisely similar results. The early, or rather the inimcilinlo