Fick's ophthalmotonometer in case

Made:: Wurzburg

Fick's ophthalmotonometer in case, by Siedentopf, Wurzburg, Germany

Details

Category:: Ophthalmology

Collection:: Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection

Object Number:: A71676

Materials:: instrument, brass, instrument, steel, case, wood, case, leather, covered, case, velvet, lined and case, silk, lined

type:: ophthalmic tonometers

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Parts

Fick’s ophthalmic tonometer, Germany, 1888-1936

Fick's ophthalmotonometer, by Siedentopf, Wurzburg, Germany

Tonometers measure pressure within the eye. This is known as intraocular pressure. Glaucoma is a condition where the optic nerve becomes damaged leading to loss of sight. Glaucoma raises intraocular pressure. Tonometers were refined in the 1880s by German physiologist Adolph Eugene Fick (1829-1901). Cocaine was introduced as a local anaesthetic in 1887. This allowed tonometers to be applied directly to the cornea.