Eyes

This condition may be due to eye strain, and can be relieved if the eyes are fitted to glasses by an oculist (not an optician). It is frequently an accompaniment of inflammation of the eyes, and when this is cured the twitching of the lids disappears. When the eyes are otherwise normal the twitching is […]

Headache is the most frequent symptom. It may be about the eyes, but there is no special characteristic which will positively enable one to know an eye headache from that arising from other sources, although eye strain is probably the most common cause of headache. The headache resulting from eye strain may then be in […]

The essential treatment of eye strain consists in the wearing of proper glasses. It should be a rule, without any exception, to consult only a regular and competent oculist, and never an optician, for the selection of glasses. It is as egregious a piece of folly to employ an optician to choose the glasses as […]

This is a severe epidemic form of catarrh of the eye, which is caused by a special germ known as the “Koch Weeks bacillus.” The treatment of this is the same as that outlined below. The germ of pneumonia and that of grippe also often cause conjunctivitis, and “catching cold,” chronic nasal catarrh, exposure to […]

In this disorder there is discharge which sticks the lids together during the night. The inner surface of the lids is much reddened, the blood vessels in the lining membrane are much enlarged, and the lids are slightly swollen. The redness may extend to the eyeball and give it a bloodshot appearance. There is no […]

This is a condition caused by inequality of the outer surface of the front of the eyeball, and rarely by a similar defect in the surfaces of the lens. The curvature of the eyeball in the astigmatic eye is greater in one meridian than in the opposite. In other words, the front of the eyeball […]

In the nearsighted eye the eyeball is too long for parallel rays entering the eye to be focused upon the retina; they are bent, instead, to a point in front of the retina, and then diverge making the vision blurred. The act of accommodation in making the lens more convex will not aid this condition, […]

Eye strain is commonly due to either astigmatism, nearsightedness, farsightedness, or weakness of the eye muscles. The farsighted eye is one in which parallel rays entering the eye, as from a distance, come to a focus behind the retina. The retina is the sensitive area for receiving light impressions in the back of the eyeball. […]

There are six muscles attached to the outside of the eyeball which pull it in various directions, and so enable each eye to be directed upon a common point, otherwise objects will appear double. Weakness of these muscles or insufficiency, especially of those required to direct the eyes inward for near work, may lead to […]

This may be caused by smoke or dust in the atmosphere, by other foreign bodies in the eye; frequently by eye strain, due to far or near sightedness, astigmatism, or muscular weakness, which may be corrected by an oculist’s (never an optician’s) prescription for glasses. Exposure to an excessive glare of light, as in the […]

The mucous membrane lining the inner surface of the eyelids also covers the front of the eyeball, although so transparent here that it is not apparent to the observer. Inflammation of this membrane is more commonly limited to that portion covering the inner surfaces of the lids, but may extend to the eyeball when the […]

A stye is a boil on the eyelid; it begins at the root of a hair as a hard swelling which may extend to the whole lid. The tip of the swelling takes on a yellowish color, breaks down and discharges “matter” or pus. There are pain and a feeling of tension in the lid, […]

To relieve this condition it is first necessary to reduce the swelling. This can be done by applying to the closed lids, every three minutes, little squares of white cotton or linen, four fold and about as large as a silver dollar, which have laid on a cake of ice until thoroughly cold. This treatment […]

Foreign bodies are most frequently lodged on the under surface of the upper lid, although the surface of the eyeball and the inner aspect of the lower lid should also be carefully inspected. A drop of a two per cent solution of cocaine will render painless the manipulations. The patient should be directed to continue […]

Slight wounds of the inner surface of the eyelids close readily without stitching if the boric acid solution (ten grains to the ounce of water) is dropped into the eye four times daily. Burns of the inner surface of the lids follow the entrance of hot water, hot ashes, lime, acids, and molten metals. Burns […]