Glaucoma : $b A symposium presented at a meeting of the Chicago Ophthalmological Society, November 17, 1913
Science
Glaucoma : $b A symposium presented at a meeting of the Chicago Ophthalmological Society, November 17, 1913
Glaucoma
In any event the result of the Lagrange operation proper, as well as my
modification of it, is to produce a drainage-oedema about the incisional
wound which persists almost indefinitely. In many cases this swelling
amounts to a bleb which may be increased by massage of or pressure upon
the eyeball. The efficacy of the operation in lowering intra-ocular
tension is to some extent measured by the degree and the constancy of
this epibulbar oedema; indeed, I suspect that the most successful
examples are those in which sclera fistulae, minute or otherwise, form
as a sequel of the operation.
My object in excising the conjunctiva about the sclero-corneal flap, is
to delay union of the wound edges, to widen the bridge of loose
cicatricial tissue between them, to prevent such a complete growth of
the endothelium as would cover the wound and block the exit of fluids,
and to insure intra-ocular rest.
In cases of _chronic_ increase of intra-ocular tension associated with a
quiet uveitis or an iridokeratitis, when the patient exhibits traces of
old synechiae, or where there is danger of their re-formation, I do not
hesitate to use atropia as long as the wound of operation has not
healed.
To the present time I have done 72 operations of the sort and have seen
no reason to alter the opinion of it expressed in the article mentioned.
Whatever objection may in the future arise--and I freely confess that
it _seems_ to be fraught with the dangers that many of my colleagues
have pointed out as probable--I have so far not seen a single case of
infection of the wound of operation. While I believe the
anti-glaucomatous results to be excellent, I may also claim that the
operation is of the simplest character; and it is easy of performance
and the resulting filtration-scar is large and (perhaps) more permeable
to the changed intra-ocular fluids than the quicker healing wounds of
the usual Lagrange and Elliot procedures.
It is regarded by most operators as desirable that there should not be
long delayed healing of the operative wound, and the fact that the
conjunctiva covers the incision is often spoken of as an advantage,
partly because it shields the large open area produced by the Lagrange
incision from infection.
My experience of this modified operation continues to be that it is
necessary to clear the neighborhood of the operation wound entirely of
conjunctiva. If the down-growth of epithelium into the operative wound
is permitted the effects are by no means as pronounced, and the eventual
lowering of tension is not as permanent as they otherwise would be.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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