Diseases and Injuries of the Eye - 1869 Author:George Lawson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. DISEASES OF THE CORNEA AND SCLEROTIC. Corneitis—Keratitis—Inflammation of the Cornea— is a disease of impaired nutrition most frequently seen i... more »n children and young people. It is met with in the pale and half-starved, as well as in the over-fat and improperly fed child ; or it may be caused from some constitutional taint, such as struma or inherited syphilis. The two latter, however, present peculiarities which distinguish them from the simple form of corneitis we are now considering. True or simple corneitis is a disease which extends itself over an uncertain period of time, runs a definite course, and with a strong tendency to get well if not thwarted by the injudicious use of drops and nostrums, suggested by the zeal of the surgeon or the restlessness of the patient. Corneitis may be confined to the one eye, but both are generally affected. It usually commences in one eye, and steadily progresses until it has reached a certain stage, when the second eye becomes attacked, and passes through exactly the same series of symptoms. Both eyes are now affected, but the one in which the disease began is in advance of the other, and is the one first to recover. The interval which elapses before the second eye is involved is very variable, in some cses it may only be a few weeks, in others as long as three or four months. The progress of the disease towards recovery is very slow; it may vary, according to the acuteness of the attack, from six months to one and a half or two years, dating from the commencement of the attack in the first eye to the ultimate recovery of that in the second. With the knowledge of these facts, the prognosis of the surgeon ought to be guarded. Symptoms.—The disease usually commences with a. pinkish redness of the ciliary region, shading of...« less