EyeRounds Online Atlas of Ophthalmology

Contributor: William Charles Caccamise, Sr, MD, Retired Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

*Dr. Caccamise has very generously shared his images of patients taken while operating during the "eye season" in rural India as well as those from his private practice during the 1960's and 1970's. Many of his images are significant for their historical perspective and for techniques and conditions seen in settings in undeveloped areas.

Category: Systemic Disorders

Congenital absence of the lacrimal puncta associated with alacrima and aptyalism OU

Image Comments

This is a patient with an extremely rare syndrome: congenital absence of all 4 puncta (agenesis) alacrima and aptyalism (absence or marked deficiency in saliva secretion). Because of the aptyalism, the young patient was under research evaluation and treatment at the world-renowned Eastman Dental Dispensary of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Lack of saliva leads to a profound caries problem. Other members of the family have the same syndrome. Reference: Caccamise and Townes (geneticist), Congenital absence of the lacrimal puncta associated with alacrima and aptyalism. Am. J. Ophthalmol. 89: 62, 1980.

agenesis of all puncta OU

Ophthalmic Atlas Images by EyeRounds.org, The University of Iowa are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.