Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1899-01-11
NEW DANGER TO SIGHT.
Hot Towels in Barber Shops Breed Mi
crObes in the Eyes.

crObes in the Eyes.
1t .behooveth men who get shaved in public
places to write down new don't in their
don't books" If they wish to preserve their
eyesight fresh microbe is abroad in the
land. He lives in the towels which some bar
oers lay across the eyes of men who get
shaved in public places
He is hardy microbe who is not inconven-
fenced by hot water. He transplants himself
from the towel to the eyes of man. and sets up
terrible state of things in quick order.
Within the past few weeks many men have
come to oculists with eyes in which a virulent
lrrltatlon had been set up. When they were
questioned all of them said they had been pat
ronlz1ng barber shops where the custom OBJ
talns or giving the upper part of The face
sort OF Turkish bath by means of a towel
which had been dipped in hot water.
The condition was almost identical in each
case-an infection so pronounced that a film
began forming over the pupil and pus was ex-
uded, and the destruction of the sight was i'm
minent.
There is now at the Baptist sanitarium
young lawyer and politician from the east
who came, perhaps, nearer than anybody else
to losing his eyesight
The young man has been passing the holt
days In st. Louis visiting friends. Tuesday
his right eye began troubling him. He sup
posed something had lodged in it which would
wash out and the inflammation would subside.
But the irritation became more intense as
the day passed. He had engaged to accom-
pany young lady to the Philharmonic sym
phony concert in the evening. In spite of the
| severest suffering he called at her home to
keep the engagement.
The young lady suggested that he go to see
doctor whose residence was next door. He
did SO, and the doctor examined the eye care
fully
There is no foreign substance in your eye -
he said. ut has become infected in some
manner. [ advise that you consult specialist
without delay
Instead of going with him to the concert
| the young lady accompanied him to the office
} of wellknown specialist near Beaumont
| street and Washington avenue. The specialist
said:
You are in grave danger of losing your eye
sight. Prompt and thorough treatment is
necessary to save it. An operation may be
necessary You will have to go immediately
to the Baptist sanitarium."
The doctor dismissed his other patients.
and, entering the carriage in which the young
man had come, accompanied him to the sani-
tarium.
1t was bit unusual for a man to 90 to a
hospital in evening dress and high hat, but his
sight was more precious to him than a precise
regard for the fitness OF raiment.
An operation was not necessary, but the use
of the knife could not have inflicted more
acute pain. The eyeball was swabbed. and
scraped, and cleansed, and packed, and the
young man says, with a shudder he thinks it
was sandpapered and chiseled
The left eye was subjected to like heroic
treatment as a precautionary measure, and
for twenty-four hours the young man was in
anxious bandaged darkness.
When the bandages were removed by the
surgeon hopeful exclamation escaped him.
Be feels confident now there will be no ill eff
fects, but if surgical interposition had been
delayed few hours longer the sight of one
and possibly both eyes would have been de-
strOyed.
The towel microbe has also been at work IN
Chicago. A few days ago a gentleman was
asked in one of the swell shops on Sixth street,
this city, if he would have a hot towel over his
eyes.
Not FOR anything ne said Il was blind
three months in Chicago as a result of the ap-
plication of hot towel to my eyes"
The use of hot, damp towel seems to be
Western innovation. 1t is not used in East
ern barber shops.-St. Louis Post-Dispatch.