EyeRounds Online Atlas of Ophthalmology

Contributor: William Charles Caccamise, Sr, MD, Retired Clinical Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

*Dr. Caccamise has very generously shared his images of patients taken while operating during the "eye season" in rural India as well as those from his private practice during the 1960's and 1970's. Many of his images are significant for their historical perspective and for techniques and conditions seen in settings in undeveloped areas.

Category: Glaucoma / Iris

Absolute glaucoma, failed iridencleisis, and tattooed cornea

The patient is an unmarried Indian female. The eye in the photo had congenital cataract surgery. That surgery was followed by a two pillar iridencleisis with a resulting inadequate filtering bed.Tattooing of a corneal leukomatous corneal scar was done for cosmesis and social reasons. This is an eye that cannot be resurrected. It will be a constant interference with the unfortunate girl's quality of life. The eye should be enucleated and the patient should be cared for subsequently by a skilled ocularist. That advice almost certainly will not be followed. Reference: For further insight into the sociologic implications of blemishes, read Fitzgerald et al, Dermatology in General Medicine, pages 569 - 570,2nd edition, 1979. The article refers to vitiligo (see Atlas photos and discussions of vitiligo) but the same social stigmata apply to publicly visible eye blemishes.

Ophthalmic Atlas Images by EyeRounds.org, The University of Iowa are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.