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)

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    this city, in 1878, published the case of a man 62 years of age, which had come under his observation, in which the sequela? just enumerated were present, and from which the patient ultimately became blind. The case of Mr. Cooper cited, occurred in a woman of 24 yrs., highly chlorotic, greatly debilitated and hysterical. She suf- fered from both forms of pemphigus, had several recurrences; but the cornea not being involved, vision was not destroyed. During the last period of temporary convalescence, she was lost sight of. Extensive cicatrices of the conjunctiva and symble- pharon were exhibited in her case. With these preliminary observations I will now proceed to de- tail the first case that has occurred to me, in a practice of thirty- three years, of pemphigus of the conjunctiva. Mrs. P., 62 years of age, of petite figure, a widow, mother of sev- eral children, a teacher for forty years, general health good, having experienced much sorrow in the death of children and from other causes, presented herself June 25, 1885, with the following history and condition. She is presbyopic, and has worn glasses ^ and stronger, for five years. She says: Two years since, while in the country, my eyes became severely inflamed, but they recovered in five or six weeks; exer since, however, my eyes have troubled me at times, often filling with tears, especially during the last year. In February, 1885, the disease became more aggravated, my eyes became very red, inflamed and watery. The left eye was first affected, was painful, and so continued for some time. The disease seemed to localize itself on the inner side of the left eye-ball, and presented a large water blister. After the water was discharged there remained a large red spot. Simultaneously with this blister there appeared similar blisters on both upper lids. To these I ap- plied flax seed poultices, and after a few days they disappeared, but considerable pain continued. In April I consulted an oculist of this city, being then unable to bear strong light or to look up. I then had large blisters on the upper lids and also on the margins of the lids. These he opened, letting out the water, and gave me a white ointment to use. I remained under his treatment for two months, during which time I had several successions of blisters and recoveries, and the intense redness of the ball partially subsided. The doctor did not tell me what disease I had, but always assured