The aseptic treatment of wounds in ophthalmic surgery / by Angus McGillivray.

  • McGillivray, Angus.
Date:
[1898]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The aseptic treatment of wounds in ophthalmic surgery / by Angus McGillivray. 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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    the dead part thus lying between the lips of the wound must be got rid of. Now if the tissues are irritated or benumbed by chemical antiseptics, they are less able to ward off any micro-organisms that may have found their way into, and are left in the wound. Iu other words, the natural immunity or antiseptic property of the tissues becomes impaired or destroyed. Again, it has been shown experimentally that the removal of micro-organisms from wounds by douchiug with antiseptic solutions depends chiefly, or probably entirely, on the mechanical irrigation, and not, as was formerly supposed, on the germicidal action of the anti- septic. The antiseptic solutions employed in surgery for douching purposes have no practical germicidal proper- ties unless they are brought into direct contact with the organisms for several hours, or even days. This, how- ever, would be a very undesirable procedure, even if possible, as prolonged action of the antiseptic is disastrous to the tissues. The resisting power of the organisms against antiseptics is considerably greater than that of the living tissues, so that any attempt to destroy organ- isms in a wound by chemical antiseptics will play havoc with the tissues long before the oi'ganisms become affected. The addition, therefore, of an antiseptic to a solution for douching purposes is not only superfluous, but actually injurious to the tissues. The result of these discoveries has been a considerable modification in the practice of antisepticians, a modifica- tion which is also a simplification, and which, carried further, has led to the adoption of asepsis as a natural development. In practice, most sui'geons, antisepticians and asep- ticians alike, sterilise their instruments by heat, they employ methods similar in principle for the disinfection of their hands and the skin of the patients, and take the same or similar precautions in preparing their operating theatres and the patients' surroundings. They differ, however, in the following :—The antiseptician employs