The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-03-05

The Necessity Of Light and AR for pe0-
PIE with Diseased Optical Organs
20 New York World
The eyee, those most sensitive organs, are
all the diseases to which almost all the other
organs are liable, SO complicated is their
structure; yet people in general pay little
attention to the state of their eyes when they
are in condition to do their work without
any special effort But il the eyes should
diseased, the injunction OF some wise friend
is, Put on poultice of bread and milk or tea
leaves and above all keep your eyes always
bandaged SO that the cir and lient can't get
at them" So hurtful was light in particular
supposed to be that the dread of light was
difnifed with the name OF photophooia.
Physicians accepted it as condition to be
dealt with delicately, and patients upon
whose eyes operations were performed or
who had certain diseases of the
eyes were secluded entirely from
light and air for longer or shorter
periods But the physicians who de-
vote themselves especially 10 diseases of the
eve are beginning to change all this. A
prominent physician said with regard to this
subject: SIT is often a nice question wheth-
er the sensitiveness of an eve to light and
air is to be INDUCED or resisted, and at what
point In the treatment exposure to light and,
air must be insisted upon, even though the
apparent immediate effect may induce dread
or light, shedding OF tears or other indica-
tons of suffering" 1T is not to oe sup
posed" the physician continued, that
because light produces distressing symptoms
in certain eye cases, we are therefore to in
dulge the patient in his desire TO live in the
dark or to multiply eye -shafes; but On the
contrary. to resort to active measures which,
on superficial observation, might seem to be
opposed to the indications of treatment. /
might edduce the change which has occurred
IN our treatment OF cataract cases We can
easily recall the time when we shut our pa
tients in darkened rooms, sitter cataract
extractions. for a period varying from one to
i've or six weeks, with only occasional intro
duction of daylight. Now we
never shut them in the DARK The
instructions are to have the apart
to read ordinary print, while we exclude
light from the patients eyes by means of a
black shade or darkened shell glasses SO long.
as the entire rest of the wounded organ may
be essential to the cure, watching carefully
for the earliest moment at which The use of
light as q remedy may be adopted. By this
method the patient lives in an atmosphere
SO illuminated as to be conducive to general
nutrition and to the uniform practice of a
hygiene regimen.
1T may be said that the deductions for
general treatment can not be safely made
from certain number of cases. This Iesds
TO the question whether light should ever be
entirely excluded from the room in which
there is a case of eye disease, and If SO under
what conditions. and whether it is not bet
ter to exclude light from the eyes while it is
allowed to pervsde with its life-giving power
the atmosphere in which the patient is kept.
In answering these questions, l would saw
that we would not shut patient in dark
room except when nature provides the way
at night, or for such other and brief periods
during the day as might be agreeable for
sleep or entire quiet, or for the temporary
application of iced and other dress
ings incompatible with the use of the black
silk eye mask or shell-shaped glasses The
value of the local method of excluding light
is very great in certain constitutional dis
eases, in which we have 10 use every sanitary
resource to cure the patient, to lessen the
amount of local damage or to diminish the
tendency to recurrence of the local disease
The inducement to shut a patient in the
dark, in case of inflammation of the pupil
OF the eye, for instance, is most irresistible.
1 am bound to say, however, that in my ex-
perience. patients with the acute form of
this disease who walk about get well with as
few bad results as any other class and in less
time. To my surprise the poor man, ex-
posed to many hardships, would get we'll
quickly, while the more luxurious patient
would linger and perhaps suffer more and
have more relapses. Oyer and over again
have seen patients with this acute disease
far on TO recovery within a week after the
beginning of medical treatment and without
any other precaution against exposure to
light than would be afforded by a pair
of smoke colored shell glasses of medium
shade
'In summing up my experience am pre-
pared to say daylight should not be excluded
from apartments in which persons with dis
eases OF the eve are being treated. 1t will be
frequently necessary to oppose vigorously
the tendency of q patient to dwell in the
dark. As rule the importance of and me-
cessity for the use of light as q remedy will
be in inverse proportion to the inclination
OF the patient We can not always depend
upon the presence of dread of light as an
indication for a prolonged use OF darkness a.
q remedy" e.u