Reflex ocular symptoms in nasal affections / by E. Gruening.

  • Gruening, Emil.
Date:
[1896]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reflex ocular symptoms in nasal affections / by E. Gruening. 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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    When a slight wind strikes my face the eyes water. My trouble dates from early childhood. My eyes have been treated, but not improved. Case IV.—-E. H aged twenty-six, a draughts- man, says : I have a constant pressure behind and around my eyes. At times only in one eye, at times in both. The upper lids feel hot and dry. My eyes water freely in the open air, but never in the house, or when I am at work. Case V.—A. E; , aged twenty-six, salesman, makes the following statement : My eyes feel very weak in the morning. In the street I can hardly open them. At about ten o'clock they feel better. When I attempt to read in the evening a film comes over my eyes and I cannot continue. In the cases just mentioned the nasal alterations were slight. I found simple catarrhal affections of the Schneiderian membrane, with insignificant swelling of the corpora cavernosa, a condition so common in New York that it may be considered normal. The ques- tion will now be asked as to whether we possess any guide, in the pathological appearance of the nasal mucous membrane, pointing to the origin of the neurotic symp- toms. This question must be negatively answered at present. Why this condition should give rise to ocular symptoms in some persons, and not in others, is difficult to explain. It may be due to a special irritability of the terminal nerves of the nasal mucous membrane; it may be due to a special neurotic tendency on the part of the individual. We have a practical guide in the possible efficiency of the nasal treatment for the relief of the ocular symptoms in the use of cocaine. If in these mild cases the instilla- tion of cocaine into the nose relieves the ocular symp- toms, we may assume that a simple anti-catarrhal treat- ment will suffice for the cure of the affection. . But the cases which we encounter are not all of this simple nature. Very frequently we find an immense hy-