The leprous diseases of the eye / by O.B. Bull and G.A. Hanson.

  • Bull, O. B. (Ole Bornemann), 1842-1916.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The leprous diseases of the eye / by O.B. Bull and G.A. Hanson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    but with this difference, that no pellucid part appears between the Limbus conjunctivalis and the obscuration which here forms au immediate continuation of the Limbus. Very often, particularly when an other magnifying lens is used, and even sometimes with the naked eye, it will be possible to discover fine vessels, which, as a continuation of the conjunc- tival and subconjunctival vessels, extend themselves over the corneal boundaries. These vessels often appear in so great abundance as to give to the whole obscuration especially at the margin a dirty reddish color (Fig. 1). They terminate in capil- lary points which, when sufficiently magnified, shew themselves surrounded by dull grey outlines. Where the vessel terminates, these outlines unite in one stripe advancing further towards the centre than the vessel, and giving to the central limit of the opacity a finely serrated boundary. With a magnifying glass one can nearly always discover in the margin of the obscuration, which to the naked eye appears quite even, small spots or points of a more opaque whitish color. Nearer to the centre of the Cornea, these spots appear further from each other; and with focal illumination they may be seen far within the more even peripheral obscuration, separated from it and from each other by entirely pellucid spaces. Yet the spots may in the whole of the obscured part be so close together, that the appearance to the naked eye may be as if fine flour had been blown in on the surface of the Cornea (Fig. 2). When they appear as more evidently separate spots (Fig. 1) they may be arranged in several series. The largest and most marked are always the most peripheral; the nearer to the centre, the smaller they are, until at last they disappear entirely. Sometimes we have been able to discover fine greyish stripes connecting several spots together; but as a rule it must be remarked that the spots are quite isolated, surrounded by clear spaces, and occur between the corneal centre and the more even, usually vascular, peri- pheral obscuration (with the fine greyish stripes which may form the continuation of it). Although the superficial obscuration, as above stated, may shew itself in an early stage of the disease, yet its progress is usually very slow. We recognise here the same periodicity in the course, as characterises the whole disease. The state remains for years unchanged; then suddenly a Hyperaemia of the Cornea supervenes, during which the whole obscuration