Evening star., 1937-06-02
CENTER BLINDNESS
TRACED TO SINUS
Eye Doctors Told Liquor and
Nicotine Not Solely
Responsible.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


packs Of cigarettes and drank quart
Of peach brandy-his favorite bev-
erage-a day.
BY and by he began to note the
progress of a queer disease, retro
bulbar neuritis. He was going blind
In a strange way. He couldn't see out
Of the centers Of his eyes. When read
ing, page of type was a tumble OF
letters and black spots. He had diff
Guilty in recognizing friends when he
looked directly at them. Peripheral
vision, out of the sides of his eyes
remained all right
This is not rare condition 1t
heavy smokers and Drinkers Both
alcohol and nicotine affect the optic
nerve, or that portion of it behind
the eyeball. About the only thing
to do, the mans physicians advised
him, was to swear off. He already
was in such condition that he could
not practice his profession.
Takes Accidental Sneeze Cure.
The doctor retired to a farm in
nearby Maryland and took up gar
dening. But in spite of foreswearing
liquor and tobacco, and the healthy
life in the country, his eyes got no
better One day he was using lime in
his garden. Somebody told him to
mix kerosene with it in a certain pro-
portion.
His eyeSight was so poor that he had
to take a handful of the stuff and
bring it right in front of his face to
judge whether it was of the right con-
sistency. 1t got too close and started
fit of very violent sneezing The
doctor couldn't stop for half an hour
From that time on his eyes began to
get better until almost normal vision
was restored and he was able to re-
sumo his practice.
This may have been coincidence,
DR.. George B. Jenkins, professor of
anatomy at George Washington Uni
versity, told a group of the country S
leading eye doctors here yesterday, but
on the other hand it may be evidence
that alcohol and nicotine are not
always to be blamed for this queer
blindness. Added to other cases on
record, he said, it supports the thesis
that the optic nerve Inflammation may
be due to infection from the sphenoid
sinus, just back Of the nose and be-
tween the eyes, which seeps through
the very thin bone which divides this
from the grooves through which
branches Of the optic nerve run to
each eye
Abstainers Also Affected.
There Is no question, he stressed
but that the majority of the cases
are due to liquor and tobacco, but
occasionally they occur in total ab-
stalners and non-smokers. Even with
a heavy drinker, it was explained
alcohol may not be at fault. This
condition is something quite different
opthalmologists explained, from the
blindness which supposedly often fol-
lowed drinking of bad bootleg liquor
during prohibition. In that case the
whole optic nerve was affected and
the end result was total blindness.
These cases have almost disappeared.
The center blindness" may result
from the best liquor on the market.
Another condition which, DR.. Jen-
kins said, often may be due to sinus
infections, is inflammation and swelling
OF the orbit which causes 'pop-eye"
appearance, is extremely painful, leads
eventually to blindness, and often is
accompanied by fever. He told of one
patient at the George Washington
clinic who has been relieved over and
over again simply by washing out his
nose.
Efforts to discover the cause of
vernal conjunctivitis, or Spring ca
tarrh, were described by DR.. Sanford
r. Clifford of Chicago. This is a
special form OF rose fever which affects
the conjunctiva, or inner membranes
OF the eyelids. causing almost unen-
durable itching and profuse water Sc
cretion from the eyes.
Radium Comes to Aid.
1t is known, he explained, to be an
allergy, probably due to different
kinds of pollen. The ordinary tests
AVA oAASA ey iloNS AlOG pIOFCO SQCCSSS1 ul
and now various pollens are being
dropped directly in the eyes of sensi-
tive persons during the Winter. In
this way it is hoped to find the COM
nonest agent.
Considerable success, he said, is be-
Ing obtained by treating these cases
with radium. This results in shrink
age of the tissue so that movements
OF the eyelid do not cause so much
irritation
DR.. Arthur J. Bedell of Albany told
Of the first successful color photo
graphs of the fundus. or back of the
eyeball, which should enable opthal-
mologists to make a more accurate
and leisurely diagnosis of pathological
conditions. Methods of correcting
squint eye without surgery were dis
cusse6 by DR.. Legrand H. Hardy of
New York City.