Sir Frederick Treves and sympathetic ophthalmia.

S ir Frederick Treves (1853-1923) is best known as the doctor and protector of the Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick (1862-1890) (Figure 1). Broadway plays, a movie, and several books have described Treves’ relationship with this horribly deformed man who is now considered to have had Proteus syndrome rather than the earlier hypothetical diagnosis of neurofibromatosis. Proteus syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by patchy, irregular overgrowth of multiple tissues. Partial gigantism of the hands and feet, hemihypertrophy, pigmented nevi, soft tissue tumors, and macrocephaly are some of its features. Typical ocular findings are strabismus, amblyopia, epibulbar lesions, high myopia, and heterochromia iridis. Treves reported that the Elephant Man’s eyes, orbits, and cranial nerves were normal.