Survey of recent methods of diagnosis and treatment of interstitial keratitis, and an analysis of the results of treatment in a series of 105 cases

Interstitial keratitis was for a long time regarded as a definite disease affecting the eye, and it was not until 1863 that Jonathan Hutchinson, in his "Clinical Memoirs ", established it as being directly due to Inherited Syphilis. In this work Hutchinson mentions that Dr Mackenzie had already devoted a section of his treatise to a description of what he termed, "Scrofulous Corneitis ", and stated, "that it is specifically different from every other ophthalmia". We are indebted to Jonathan Hutchinson for the first classical description of the condition, and also for his pioneer work in establishing it as a definite manifestation of Inherited Syphilis. Briefly, Interstitial Keratitis may be described as a cellular infiltration of the middle and posterior layers of the cornea, which is thereby given a ground -glass appearance. The disease is commonest in childhood, notably occurring between the ages of five and eighteen years in patients who are the subjects of Congenital Syphilis. It is somewhat chronic in its course, and is characterised by the absence of any tendency to ulceration. In this survey of interstitial keratitis I have tried to epitomize modern methods of diagnosis and treatment of the condition and to analyse the results so obtained. Compared with the unfavourable prognosis formerly accorded to the disease, the results in this series fully justify the greater consideration and expenditure which such methods demand.

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Edinburgh

Year dc:date.issued

1933

Author dc:creator

• Taylor, Dorothy M.

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/34187

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:era.ed.ac.uk:1842/34187