Notes on the electro-magnet in ophthalmology : with a report of nine cases / by Wm. Ellery Briggs.

  • Briggs, William Ellery.
Date:
[1889]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on the electro-magnet in ophthalmology : with a report of nine cases / by Wm. Ellery Briggs. 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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    of steel through the lens, but the eyes present evefy pfdspect that an operation will restore useful vision to them. Cases III, VI, VII, and two unreported cases, were unsucceas- ful, from the fact that the magnet could not extract the foreign bodies. The first four cases of the foregoing series were operated upon under ether; in the remaining ones the local anesthesia produced by a four per cent, cocaine hydrochlorate solution was found sufficient. During the past two years I have observed strict anti- septic precautions in this, as well as in most other operations upon the eye. I have found that less than i6 or i8 Leclanch6 cells do not develop the full power of my magnet. I at first used a Grenet cell as suggested by Hirschberg but found that the single fluid battery was far less satisfactory than the Leclanche cell. The magnet was made under my instructions from the description of Hirschberg's instrument, and is similai in its construction. The great majority of foreign bodies that lodge within the eye are splinters of steel. For this reason the electro-magnet has a larger scope of usefulness than would at first appear. When a piece of steel has lodged within the anterior chamber, or has pene- trated the iris or lens, it can usually be extracted with the forceps, but the electro-magnet offers a safer means of removing such bodies. The incision, which should be made through the cornea, near its border, where the foreign body can be most readily reached, need be no larger for the introduction of the point of the magnet than for the forceps. And the manipulation of the forceps necessary to grasp the particle will generally cause more injury to the delicate tissues than the introduction of the magnet point. It is rarely necessary to touch the fragment, as it will be attracted from some distance, unless it is firmly adherent to the tissues. When the steel is lodged in the vitreous chamber, and is beyond the reach of the forceps, the inestimable boon of an electro- magnet can be fully appreciated, If the surgeon is convinced from the appearance of the wound, from the direction whence the ^ foreign body came, and from the internal injury to the eye, that something has lodged within the globe, I believe he is derelict in his duty to his patient if he does not attempt to extract it with the electro-magnet. If the foreign body can be seen in the vitre- ous chamber, there can then be no question of the necessity of prompt operation. Unless the wound made by the penetrating