SCISSORS-MAGNET EXTRACTION OF IRON FROM EYEBALL

Particles of iron or steel may remain embedded deep in the eyeball for long periods without becoming so enclosed or so firmly adherent as to prevent magnet extraction by the ordinary methods. In the lens the development of a traumatic cataract may rather facilitate removal; and particles remain freely suspended in the vitreous for considerable periods, responding to the attraction of the magnet very much as they would immediately after the injury. De Schweinitz 1 has reported cases in which the tip of the Sweet magnet placed at the scleral incision, not introduced within the eye, promptly removed steel from the vitreous in one case in five weeks, and in the other two months after the injury, and in a third case of six months' duration, although the foreign body was not secured on the magnet, subsequent inability to demonstrate it within the eyeball where it had previously been localized