The electro-magnet in removal of steel from the interior of the eye / by Alvin A. Hubbell.

  • Hubbell, Alvin A. (Alvin Allace), 1846-1911.
Date:
[1898]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The electro-magnet in removal of steel from the interior of the eye / by Alvin A. Hubbell. 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 ELECTRO-MAGNET IN REMOVAL OE STEEL FROM THE LNTERIOR OF THE EYE* By AUVTN A. HUBBELL, M. D., Professor of Diseases of the Eye, Ear and Throat, in the Medical Department of Niagara University, Buffalo, N. Y. One of the most serious accidents that can befall the eye is the introduction of a foreign body into its interior. In some cases, vision is at once destroyed, while in nearly all, inflamma- tory action rapidly develops, and if any sight were previously left, it soon becomes lost by this process. Such injuries are» moreover, extremely liable to cause sympathetic disease of the other eye, and thus lead to total blindness. Exceptional cases have been recorded, in which the presence of a foreign body in the eye has been tolerated for weeks, months, and even years, without suffering, and sometimes with more or less preservation of vision ; but these are so rare as practically to have no weight against the rule that the foreign body must be removed or the eye will be lost. The kinds of foreign bodies which are driven into the eye are various, according to the occupation and circumstances, and they may lodge at almost any point. They may also produce any extent of injury, from one scarcely discernible to one causing a total destruction of the eye. Under all circumstances, their removal is most desirable, and even imperative, so far as the preservation of vision is concerned ; yet, to attempt this, involves one of the most uncertain and difficult procedures in surgery. All sorts of forceps, hooks, curettes, scoops, etc., have been devised for the purpose, and when the foreign body is situated in the anterior part of the eye, where it can be seen by the oper- ator, some of them may be used with occasional success. But when it is lodged in the vitreous cavity or posterior part of the ball, the difficulties are increased many-fold, and it is often neces-