185Book review

Les Dimensions de laDouleur enOphtalmologieA.B. Safran, T. Landis, andP. Dayer, editors. Publisher:Masson, Paris, Milan,Barcelona, 1998. 350 pages,tables, illustrations. Price:US$ 65.00. ISBN 2-225-83167-X.

Book review

Neuro-ophthalmology 0165-8107/99/US$ 15.00

Neuro-ophthalmology – 1999, Vol. 21,No. 3, pp. 185-186© Æolus Press 1999

Accepted 1 December 1998

Ocular pain is an important feature of many ophthalmological andneurological diseases, and is often the main symptom that drives thepatient to seek medical advice. It is, nevertheless, a subject that has notbeen given a great deal of attention in the literature.

The book consists of 44 chapters, written in French, and deals withvarious aspects of ocular pain and related matters. All of the chaptersare concisely written and highly instructive, and many illustrations andtables are ideally suited for providing assimilated and complete infor-mation on the most important points.

The contributions from specialists in many different fields (ophthal-mology, neurology, psychiatry, general medicine, otolaryngology, an-esthesia, gerontology, biology, pharmacology) provide a detailed sur-vey of the more important diseases leading to ocular pain.

Five principal themes are covered.1. An analysis of the nature of pain as it is experienced by children andadults. The psychosocial aspects have by no means been neglected.2. Exhaustive answers are given to all questions about ocular diseasesassociated with local pain: pain caused by infectious diseases of theouter part of the eye; pain accompanying disorders of ocular motilityand ischemic conditions of the eye and asthenopia; pain following eyesurgery (including excimer laser treatment); and pain associated withthe use of contact lenses. The use of local anesthetics is also dealt within detail.3. The symptomatology of pain and photophobia as they arise in dis-eases of the brain, neck, and paranasal sinuses which project pain to theorbit and/or eye (migraine, cluster headache, trigeminus neuralgia, giantcell arteritis, intracranial hypertension or hypotension, and post-traumaticpain). These are also of great importance.4. Advice on treatment is given, including alternative therapy such asacupuncture and hypnosis, and the reflexology of pain is discussed.The pharmacological treatment of migraine and related, but not iden-tical neurological disorders is described in detail.5. The book ends by emphasizing the importance of a multidisciplinaryapproach to patients with pain, and offers a general survey of pain andculture.Les Dimensions de la Douleur en Ophtalmologie can be uncondition-ally recommended to every neuro-ophthalmologist and physician. It

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Book review186

offers a thorough, detailed, and precise description of many painfuldiseases and provides helpful advice on modern methods of treatmentand the latest drugs.

dieter schmidtFreiburg, Germany

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