Edwin Sterling Munson

Biography

• Born May 8, 1870 Earlville, Illinois
• 1894 – MD, New York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital
• 1895 – Resident physician, New York Medical College
• 1896 – Resident, New York Ophthalmic Hospital
• 1914-1919 New York National Guard. Initially as private rising through ranks to lieutenant serving in 107th Infantry, 27th Division, AEF and served in France
• 1930 – President of the American Homeopathic, Ophthalmological, Otological and Laryngological Society
• 1936 – Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology, New York Medical College
• Dean of the New York Ophthalmic Hospital (now Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital)
• Died February 2, 1958

Medical Eponyms

Munson sign (1933). V-shaped indentation observed in the lower eyelid when the patient’s gaze is directed downwards. The medical sign is characteristic of advanced cases of keratoconus (a condition in which the cornea assumes a conical shape because of thinning and protrusion) and is caused by the cone-shaped cornea pressing down into the eyelid.

When keratoconus is fully developed diagnosis becomes relatively simple. At this stage protrusion of the cornea has advanced to the point of appreciable conicity, and the apex has become irregularly opacified (interstitial keratitis) owing to increased exposure and friction, while sensitivity to touch has disappeared or diminished greatly. The degree of protrusion may be measured with the exophthalmometer, if available, or it may be studied advantageously by elicitation of the sign which was first pointed out by Dr. Edwin S. Munson to the staff of the New York Ophthalmic Hospital and has been referred to as Munson’s sign ever since.

Alfred Appelbaum 1936

Major Publications

• Munson ES. Bacteriology and pathology of middle ear infections. The Journal of ophthalmology, otology and laryngology. 1912;18:4-6
• Munson ES. A review of the homeopathic therapeutics of otitis media cattarhalis acuta. The Journal of ophthalmology, otology and laryngology. 1913;19:406-409
• Munson ES. The value of the opthalmometer. The Journal of ophthalmology, otology and laryngology. 1915;21:488-489
• Munson ES. Heterophoria: The relation between the far and near tests. The Journal of ophthalmology, otology and laryngology. 1922;26:372-377
• Munson ES. The use of homeopathic remedies in eye conditions. Journal of the American Institute of Homœopathy. 1927;20:323-32.
• Munson ES. Etiology of comitant convergent strabismus. Journal of the American Institute of Homœopathy. 1931;24:139-46
• Munson ES.  A clinical lecture on ophthalmoscopy. Journal of the American Institute of Homœopathy. 1933;26:29-33
• Munson ES. A New Test Type. American journal of ophthalmology. 1934;17(8): 746–747 [Modified Snellen chart]
• Munson ES. Chronic iritis with blood vessels on the lens. Arch Ophthalmol. 1934;12(1):99-100.
• Munson ES. Emmetropia. The Australasian Journal of Optometry. 1943;26(9):405-412

References

• Munson, Edwin Sterling. NYMC Health Sciences Library
• Davidson J. A century of homeopaths: their influence on medicine and health.  New York, NY: Springer. 2014 p40
• Wershub LP. One Hundred Years of Medical Progress: A History of the New York Medical College, Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospitals. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, 1967. p171
• Munson, Edwin Sterling. National cyclopædia of American biography: 1963; Volume 46: 261-262
• Appelbaum A. Keratoconus. Arch. Ophth. 1936;15: 900-921.