An examination of the eye would not be complete without a careful
inspection of the =nose and throat=. The same nerve and blood supply
that go to the eye is tied up so definitely with the nose and throat
that when there are lesions of the nose and throat the eye is often
affected secondarily. Just recently a case of =dacryocystitis= came
into my office. After I had carefully examined her eye, spine, nose
and throat, she informed me that she had been to three eye specialists
before and not one of them had ever looked at her nose and throat,
not to mention the spine. She had cervical and dorsal lesions, and
=diseased tonsils=. The =inferior turbinate= on the side of the
dacryocystitis was curled out so that it lay against the external
wall of the nose almost if not altogether blocking the entrance of
the =lacrymal duct= to the inferior meatus. This was evidently the
predisposing cause of her dacryocystitis.
In =neuralgia= of the eye, =blepharitis=, =obscure pain=,
=conjunctivitis= and often deeper troubles you will find a bad
condition of the =nasopharynx=, such as adenoids, vegetations, pus
pockets, adhesions in the fossa of Rosenmuller, contraction of the
soft palate, disturbed relations of the septum and turbinates, sinus
trouble, poor drainage, exostoses and polyps. In eye disease all these
things should be discovered if they are present, in order to get best
results and in order to make a careful diagnosis.