Ophthalmia nodosa due to caterpillar hairs.

CASES of ophthalmia nodosa attributable to caterpillar hairs have been recorded in the literature from time to time during the last hundred years. The first description was published by Schon (1861) and further cases have been described by others including Pagenstecher (1883), Wagenmann (1890), Elschnig (1895). The name ophthalmia nodosa was given by Saemisch (1904). Only two British authors have published case reports: Lawford (1895), and Foster Moore (1929). The case here presented is the first to be recorded in Ireland and is one of a very small number which has been studied histologically. In preparing this account the valuable articles by Villard and Dejean (1934), and by Gundersen, Heath, and Garron (1950) have been consulted. A full bibliography of the condition will be found appended to these articles. Villard and Dejean (1934) describe the results of their studies of four cases and mention five others in which caterpillar hairs or material caused eye lesions, adding these nine cases to the forty previously reported. Two of their cases were studied in detail: in the first the eye was struck by a caterpillar's nest falling from a pine tree, and in the second dust from a nest entered the eye which was rubbed vigorously. In both cases hairs became embedded in the cornea and in the second there was a conjunctival nodule containing five or six hairs. In the case recorded by Gundersen, Heath, and Garron (1950) a farmer rubbed his eye with a towel in which a caterpillar cocoon was lying. There was an immediate reaction, intense and prolonged, and several hairs were noted in the cornea and anterior chamber. Paracentesis and iridectomy were carried out and finally, seven months after the accident, the eye was enucleated. A description is given of the histological findings. In both these articles the authors proceeded to investigate the irritant effects of caterpillar hairs on rabbit eyes. In these animals the reaction was found to be milder than in man. Among the points made by other writers the following quoted by Villard and Dejean (1934) may be noted. Teutschlaender (1908) gave an account of the penetration of the iris. He stated that free and dead caterpillar hairs were less irritant than those from a living insect, and ascribed the irritation to a toxic substance secreted in the venom glands from which the *Rjceived for publication November 23, 1954.