Sympathetic Ophthalmia and Bilateral Phacoanaphylaxis

Abstract

The histologic picture in the sympathogenic or exciting eye * in sympathetic ophthalmia is a characteristic one that has been studied extensively and described frequently. On the other hand, the opportunity to examine sympathizing eyes histologically has arisen rather rarely. This is understandable in view of the fact that it has been customary in the past to enucleate the exciting eye when signs of sympathetic ophthalmia developed in the fellow eye, and psychological reasons usually have militated against removing the patient's only remaining eye even though it might be blind. Fuchs' opinion¹ that the histologic picture in the sympathizing eye is identical with that in the exciting eye has been generally accepted through the years. There have, however, been conflicting opinions in the few histologic studies on this subject. Loewenstein,² in 1945, reviewed the literature and was able to find only 19 sympathizing eyes that had been examined histologically,