Trachoma may be described as a specific, transmissible, destructive inflammation of the conjunctiva, characterized by the formation of the so-called trachoma granulations, which may be either papillary or follicular; the ultimate formation of scar tissue; marked chronicity, and intractability to all forms of local treatment.
Various inflammations of the conjunctiva give rise to the formation of follicles that cannot be distinguished by inspection from those caused by trachoma; hence the formation of scar tissue is the one all important diagnostic feature of the disease. If trachoma had been called "scar producing conjunctivitis" much of the confusion of ideas and differences of opinion that now exist concerning the diagnosis of the disorder would never have arisen.
Clinically trachoma presents itself in two forms: (1) fulminating trachoma, and (2) slow trachoma.
The first is a very acute inflammation which comes on suddenly and is accompanied by the usual symptoms of a severe