A treatise on the principles and practice of ophthalmic medicine and surgery / by T. Wharton Jones.

  • Jones, Thomas Wharton, 1808-1891.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the principles and practice of ophthalmic medicine and surgery / by T. Wharton Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    770/888 (page 692)
    EPIPHORA, OR WATERY EYE. rosis, appears to be owing to a disturbance in the secretory action as well of the conjunctiva as of the lacrymal gland, Obliteration of the excretory ducts of the lacryma] gland is spoken of as a cause of lacrymal xerophthalmia, but such a condition appears to be, as I have above ex- P pressed my belief, rather assumed than unequivocally f established by any direct observation. The fact appears to be, that, as above stated (pp. 261 et scq.),_ xerophthalmia is always conjunctival, depending tfl'i on a cuticxilar state of the conjunctiva, and that the secre- tion of tho lacrymal gland may or may not be suppressed. 3rd.—Epiphora, or watery eye. This is superabundant secretion of tears, and mosi commonly presents itself as a symptom of irritation ol w the conjunctiva. This irritation may bo owing to inflam inntion, especially scrofulous inflammation of the mem brane, or, as is woll known, to the action of chemical 01 mechanical agents—cold winds, acrid vapours, or foreig: particles in tho oculo-palpebral spaco, inverted eyelashes so. Epiphora, as above pointed out (p. 13), is to bo distin guished from stillicidium lacrymarum, another form watery ■eye; the latter arising not from superabundant secretion., but from a morbid state of the derivative lacry- mal organs, whereby they are unable to draw off into the noso tho fluid which is always collecting in the lacus ^L lacrymalis at tho inner comer of the eye. But as the . morbid state of tho derivative lacrymal organs is fre- quently accompanied by an irritable state of the conjunc tiva, epiphora may exist at the same time with stilhcidium lacryrnarum.f Treatment.—The treatment is of course the removal oi tho cause, whether inflammation, of whatever kind it may be, or chemical or mechanical irritants of the conjunctiva &c. ft.': if- * Obliteration of some of the ducts of the lacrymal gland has been alleged to be the condition of another disease, viz., dacryops, or lacrymal tumour of the upper eyelid. t Some authors employ stillicidium lacrymarum in the sense in which epiphora is above used. U f th I:. d a lies h\ until teal Irw p \ E ft ia |at fined ineia IQC a tad %i f Pre