Pemphigus of the conjunctiva / von Prof. Dr. Wicherkiewicz.

  • Dickinson, William.
Date:
[1886]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pemphigus of the conjunctiva / von Prof. Dr. Wicherkiewicz. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

    2/6 (page 118)
    lis Original Articles. [Aug. , 1886. to that of a pea or even larger, and are called blebs, bullse. No portion of the body or limbs is exempt from their invasion. These at first contain a transparent serous fluid, which soon changes to a milky color, then semi-purulent. These blebs in a short time burst, the contents escape, dry up and form crusts, which finally disappear, leaving the surface in much the same condition as before. This disease is most commonly met with in children in the first eighteen months of life, still it occurs in per- sons of all ages, especially in those of advanced years. Chronic pemphigus (sometimes called pompholyx) in adults occurs in the proportion of one case to ten thousand of the entire popula- tion. Neither physical condition, temperament, special diet, habits, season of the year or geographical peculiarities seem to act as specially predisposing causes. It seems to be found, how- ever, more frequently in the anemic and debilitated. The condi- tion of pregnancy, slight local injury, the female sex, and even heredity appear to present conditions favorable for its invasion. These observations being descriptive of pemphigus as it affects the skin, are in general applicable to the disease affecting the conjunctiva. But the results are quite different in the latter; the original integrity of structure of the part invaded is never re- gained; cicatrization and contraction, inevitable and irresistible, take place; and the gravity of the injury sustained depends up- on the situation of the blebs, being more grave when it is seated in the conjunctival sac; for, when the blebs occur in this location, the opposing palpebral and ocular conjunctivae being denuded of epithelium, in the process of healing they adhere, and thus is lessened the depth of the conjunctival sac, or it is wholly obliterated, inducing symblepharon more or less complete, ectro- pion, trichiasis, and all the troublesome sequela} consequent thereon. Pemphigus of the conjunctiva is much more rare than its congener cited. In all the records of ophthalmic surgery, probably not thirty cases can be found. Mr. White Cooper, of St. Mary's Hospital, London, published one case, the earliest date that has come to my knowledge. Schweigger states in his Handbook of Ophthalmology only two cases are known in which pemphigus of the conjuctiva occurred in connection with the eruption on otherparts ofthebody. Dr. J. C. Campbell, of