ophthalmia

ophthalmia

inflammation of the eye, often including the conjunctiva

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Ophthalmia

 

a predominantly noninfectious inflammation of the membranes of the eye. Inflammations may arise in the conjunctiva and the cornea under the action of certain types of radiation, for example, electricity, which causes electric ophthalmia in welders and cinematographers, and reflected light, which causes snow blindness in arctic explorers and mountain climbers who fail to use protective goggles. Inflammations also occur when foreign bodies enter the eye.

“Ophthalmia” also refers to sympathetic irritations of the eye, which arise in one eye with penetrating wounds of the other eye, and to metastatic ophthalmia—a purulent inflammation that originates in a distant inflammatory focus. Ophthalmia is treated by removing any foreign bodies or by eliminating the underlying cause of inflammation.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

ophthalmia

[äf′thal·mē·ə]

(medicine)

Inflammation of the eye, especially involving the conjunctiva.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.