Extraction of a splinter of wood from the cornea / by David Webster.

  • Webster, David, 1842-1923.
Date:
[1880?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Extraction of a splinter of wood from the cornea / by David Webster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    2/4 (page 2)
    resorted to with good effect. But these unpleasant symptoms were sure to return, and at last, six months after the accident, the mother determined to consult a physician again. When I saw the child there was considerable irritability of the eye and sensitiveness to light, so that it could be examined with difficulty. Upon raising the upper eyelid I saw, at the upper and outer part of the cornea, extending from the periphery toward the centre for about 3 mm., and about 6 mm. in length, of a grey¬ ish white color with, perhaps, a slight yellowish tint, a dense in¬ filtration, clearly defined against the transparent cornea. A whitish streak, forming a slightly elevated ridge, could be traced obliquely inward and upward across the opacity. A few blood¬ vessels could be seen running from the limbus across the opacity. The conjunctival injection was slight. At the lower margin of the cornea was a localized pinkish injection about 2 mm. square. Iris and pupil normal. The appearance of the eye is very well shown in the accom¬ panying sketch made on the spot by my friend, Dr. J. A. An¬ drews. This certainly would be a most extraordinary form of opacity for ulcerative or phlyctenular keratitis, and I immediately asked myself the question whether a splinter of wood might not be embedded therein. The eye was then examined by my friend, Dr. Oren D. Pome¬ roy, and by several other experts, both by daylight and by arti¬ ficial light, and all agreed with me that, although the presence of a foreign body could not be positively demonstrated, the proba¬ bility of the existence of one was sufficiently strong to justify an explorative operation.