TURNED IN EYELASH. TRICHIASIS.
Sometimes an eyelash grows inward so as to impinge upon the front of the eyeball, or even to extend between this and the eyelid. The condition exists in entropion but trichiasis is rather the deviation of one or two cilia by reason of their false direction, individually. It may occur as the result of a pre-existing inflammation affecting the edge of the lid and the follicle, and the offending hair is not only badly directed but small and shrunken as well. On this account it is not always easy to recognize it, and accordingly in cases of conjunctivitis without apparent cause it is well to examine carefully with the aid of oblique focal illumination.
Treatment consists in pulling out the offending hair with ciliary forceps, avoiding bending it lest it break off short and become at once more irritating and more difficult of extraction. In case the hair grows anew in the same direction extract it anew and destroy its root with the electric cautery.