If you happen to scratch your eyeball, leave it alone and go immediately to an eye specialist—your eyesight is at stake.
This advice comes from one of the foremost eye specialists in the country, Dr. Henry Freeman Allen. Dr. Allen is director of post graduate studies in opthalmology at Harvard medical school. , r- *,,
Dr. Allen said in an interview here that the eye no matter how slight the injury, is vulnerable to a wide variety of bacterial, virus and fungus infections.
This is why a scratch on eyeball is no light matter.
Eyedrops Harmful
"One thing not to do when you scratch your eyeball," said the Boston o ogist,
"is to dose yourself with any eye-drops you may have on the medicine shelf.'*
E3^e drop or eyewash solutions which have been opened and on the medicine shelf for any length of time, said Dr. Allen, are quite likely contaminated with the bacterial organism pyocyaneus.
This form of bacteria is found "all over the place" and is highly infectious in open wounds
of the eyeball, the visiting jopthalmologist said.
"If you don't have an injury, "he added," you don't need eyedrops. And if you need eye-drops at all, they should be prescribed by a physician. Not Beneficial
"I don't say ordinary eye-drops are bad—but they don't do any good."
Some forms of eyedrops widely sold over drug counters without prescription, however, can be dangerous,
Dr. Allen said these drops contain the drug phenylephrine, which can cause abnormal dilation of the pupil, blurring of vision and may subject the user to the risk of acute glaucoma.
Glaucoma is a disease involving excessive pressure within the eyeball and "one of the most important blinding diseases of the world," he said. '.
"Acute glaucoma, which can mimic stomach upset, can cause
sudden blindness within a matter of hours.'
Dr. Allen said he may get some argument on the serious hanky-panky he thinks the drug phenyl-phrine plays with the eyes. But he, won't be impressed easily. Blurs Vision
"I used some of the stuff containing it myself last week, and —•'boom' — out went the iris." The drops, he said, dilated the pupil so fast his vision was almost immediately blurred.
"Dosing your eyes with drops containing phenylephrine can be very dangerous," Dr. Allen warned.
For persons interested in his ad-! vice, the best way of finding out what's in a proprietary drug is not to ask the clerk — read what is in it on the list of ingredients required by federal law.
Another type of the formidable
disease glaucoma is chronic and you can have it without feeling a twinge of pain. Says Dr. Allen:
"Chronic glaucoma insidiously causes blindness within a period of months, and without pain. Critical Ages
"It is apparently present in one out of every 50 people over the age of 40 in the United States."
The age period between 40 and 55 years, he said, is "quite a critical period for the eyes."
Best way for people in this age group to keep out of trouble so far as their eyes are concerned, Dr. Allen said,.is to have a checkup by an opthalmologist at intervals no greater than every two or three years.
Dr. Allen was in New Orleans at the invitation of the LSU medical school to give a series of talks yesterday on bacteriology and external eye diseases.
He also conferred with Hotel Dieu authorities yesterday, advising them on the ideal type of operating room to prevent and control infection. PHOTO: CHECKING OPERATIONS on a new piece of ophtalmological equipment at LSU medical school are DR. HENRY FREEMAN ALLEN, left, Bos-ton, director of graduate opthalmologic studies at Harvard medical school, and DR. GEORGE M. HAIK, head of the opthalmology department at LSU. The device, a "fundus" camera, takes color pictures of the back of the eyeball.
