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Simple IRIS Retractor for use in Cryoextraction
VOL. 65, NO. 2
NOTES, CASES, INSTRUMENTS
255
Fig. 1 (Howard and Ellsworth). (Above) Modi fied scleral depressors with fixation and localizing tips. This modification can be done with a small triangular hand file. (Below) Modification prepared by the Storz Instrument Company, St. Louis, Mis souri. peripheral lesion into direct view. 3. The localization of retinal breaks is fa cilitated during surgery for retinal detach ment since the tip of the instrument leaves a temporary depression in the slceral surface over the break. This temporary depression, which lasts 30 to 60 seconds, may then be marked with diathermy or methylene blue for later identification. The localizing tips are not sharp enough to perforate the sclera. 635 West 165th Street (10032)
S I M P L E IRIS RETRACTOR FOR USE IN CRYOEXTRACTION PREBEN KRISTENSEN,
M.D.
Arhus, Denmark Several types of iris retractor are used in cryoextraction of cataract, each being in From the Department of Ophthalmology, Kommunehospitalet.
Fig. 1 (Kristensen). (A) Iris retractor held in mos quito forceps; (B) and (C) iris retractor in use. principle a thin plate with a hooked end to draw aside the margin of the pupil. This report draws attention to a simple, cheap, effective and atraumatic iris retractor made from materials commonly used in eye
256
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY
surgery. It consists of a piece of com pressed, dry plastic sponge, shaped to the size of the pupil, and held in a mosquito for ceps (fig. 1A). The retractor is placed on the anterior surface of the lens at the pupillary margin and the iris is then easily drawn aside (figs. IB and 1C). The plastic sponge absorbs fluid on the lens surface, thus avoid
FEBRUARY, 1968
ing freezing, with adherence of the lens to the iris. Additionally, the sponge isolates the iris from the cryoextractor. The plastic sponge has been previously described for use in cataract extraction and is readily avail able. Department of Ophthalmology
OPHTHALMIC MINIATURE
"Well, anyway, I've stumbled on to an oculist who has made very delicate and complete tests. He says this piece isn't from Hardesty's spectacles, but that the piece the sheriff has is made to Hardesty's pre scription. That means there were two broken spectacles. "Now, according to this oculist, the normal eye has a certain power of adjustment, or what is known as accommodation. It's really an ability to change the thickness of the lens of the eyeball, which has the effect of bringing objects into focus—just the same as you move the lens of a camera in and out, in order to focus it on some object." Mason nodded. "That power is lost as a person becomes older; at the age of forty, a person needs bifocals; at about sixty, he loses the power of accommodation altogether. Of course, some persons are more immune to the effects of age so far as the eye is concerned, but on a general average, an optician can tell the age of a person pretty well from the correction of his eyeglass. Now this oculist tells me that just making a guess—not something he'd be willing to swear to under oath, but making a damned close guess— that spectacle lens came from the glasses of a person just about thirty-six years old." Earle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Buried Clock
NOTES, CASES, INSTRUMENTS
255
Fig. 1 (Howard and Ellsworth). (Above) Modi fied scleral depressors with fixation and localizing tips. This modification can be done with a small triangular hand file. (Below) Modification prepared by the Storz Instrument Company, St. Louis, Mis souri. peripheral lesion into direct view. 3. The localization of retinal breaks is fa cilitated during surgery for retinal detach ment since the tip of the instrument leaves a temporary depression in the slceral surface over the break. This temporary depression, which lasts 30 to 60 seconds, may then be marked with diathermy or methylene blue for later identification. The localizing tips are not sharp enough to perforate the sclera. 635 West 165th Street (10032)
S I M P L E IRIS RETRACTOR FOR USE IN CRYOEXTRACTION PREBEN KRISTENSEN,
M.D.
Arhus, Denmark Several types of iris retractor are used in cryoextraction of cataract, each being in From the Department of Ophthalmology, Kommunehospitalet.
Fig. 1 (Kristensen). (A) Iris retractor held in mos quito forceps; (B) and (C) iris retractor in use. principle a thin plate with a hooked end to draw aside the margin of the pupil. This report draws attention to a simple, cheap, effective and atraumatic iris retractor made from materials commonly used in eye
256
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY
surgery. It consists of a piece of com pressed, dry plastic sponge, shaped to the size of the pupil, and held in a mosquito for ceps (fig. 1A). The retractor is placed on the anterior surface of the lens at the pupillary margin and the iris is then easily drawn aside (figs. IB and 1C). The plastic sponge absorbs fluid on the lens surface, thus avoid
FEBRUARY, 1968
ing freezing, with adherence of the lens to the iris. Additionally, the sponge isolates the iris from the cryoextractor. The plastic sponge has been previously described for use in cataract extraction and is readily avail able. Department of Ophthalmology
OPHTHALMIC MINIATURE
"Well, anyway, I've stumbled on to an oculist who has made very delicate and complete tests. He says this piece isn't from Hardesty's spectacles, but that the piece the sheriff has is made to Hardesty's pre scription. That means there were two broken spectacles. "Now, according to this oculist, the normal eye has a certain power of adjustment, or what is known as accommodation. It's really an ability to change the thickness of the lens of the eyeball, which has the effect of bringing objects into focus—just the same as you move the lens of a camera in and out, in order to focus it on some object." Mason nodded. "That power is lost as a person becomes older; at the age of forty, a person needs bifocals; at about sixty, he loses the power of accommodation altogether. Of course, some persons are more immune to the effects of age so far as the eye is concerned, but on a general average, an optician can tell the age of a person pretty well from the correction of his eyeglass. Now this oculist tells me that just making a guess—not something he'd be willing to swear to under oath, but making a damned close guess— that spectacle lens came from the glasses of a person just about thirty-six years old." Earle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Buried Clock