Diseases and injuries of the eye : their medical and surgical treatment / by George Lawson.

  • George Lawson
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases and injuries of the eye : their medical and surgical treatment / by George Lawson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    i reappearance in both eyes with each recurrence of the ; urethral discharge has now convinced me that it was due tto other causes. I should add that this patient with each ; attack of gonorrhoea suffered severely from gonorrhoea) i rheumatism. It is possible that this form of ophthalmia i may be due to the same absorption of the poison as that ' which induced the rheumatism, and that the discharge 1 from the eyes is an attempt to eliminate the poison I through the mucous surfaces of the globe and lids. . Another explanation is, that in some people there exists ; a peculiar sympathy between the mucous membranes of i one part of the body with those of another; thus it is not i uncommon to find in common catarrh the whole mucous ] lining of the body more or less affected at one time, and i in one gentleman with whom I am acquainted a severe i catarrhal attack is frequently accompanied by a discharge : from the urethra. Treatment.—The same asfor the gonorrhceal ophthalmia . caused by inoculation, but as the symptoms are less i severe, so the strength of the remedial applications to the i eye may be reduced. Eepeated doses of balsam copaiba • will sometimes have a beneficial effect, and check mate- i rially the purulent secretion. A good nutritious diet, • with a moderate allowance of stimulants, should be pre- scribed. Difhttieritic OpiiTHALMiA is a disease which is almost I unknown in England. It was first described by the late Y. Graefe,* who witnessed several epidemics of this pecu- I liar affection. Symptoms.—The disease usually commences suddenly in the^ upper eyelids, which become red, swollen, and rigid I from fibrinous effusion into the subcutaneous tissues. The conjunctiva of the lid is found on eversion to be smooth, dry, and pale from constriction of the palpebral vessels. The lower lid then becomes similarly affected, and the conjunctiva of the globe chemosed, not, as in catarrhal ophthalmia, from serous effusion, but from exudation of : fibrine. As the disease advances, the swelling and red- ness of the lids increase; there is great pain and heat, I and a thin discharge with fiocculi of lymph oozes from the ' eye: . ^n's a^ter a ^ew days becomes purulent, and the rigidity of the lids begins to subside. During the pro- * Archiv 1'. Ophthal., p. 168. 1854-5.
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