Ever Recurring Eye Problems...

[Tennyson]

I have been having problems with one of my horses eye's ever since about a week after week bought him nearly two years ago! I would love to know if anyone has exp-erienced anything similar...!

The most obvious symptom is that some days (probably once a fortnight) one of his eyes (right hand side) is completely closed. This can be whether he is in the stable or turned out, with or without flymask, day or night, dull days or sunny days etc. etc. and it doesnt seem to respond to bute. Sometimes there is a small amount of cloudy coloured discharge usually on the surface of the eye which eventually comes out - but is by no means excessive or the area around the eye never gets sore or runs or anything like that. When the eye is open it does not look cloudy or indeed any different to the other eye!

Despite many many visits from two seperate local vets, plus several visits last year to Minster vets hospital in York and recent trips to Hirds in Halifax, they can find nothing wrong. He has had dyes, drops, and syringes of a liquid made from his own blood into the eye, head xrays of his synuses, mouth xrays - and a small unerupted tooth removed but no other problems, complete dental examination and fairly extensive drilling done but all still sound. He had the lids relaxed so the vet got a good look at the surface and back of the eye but other than a small 'pinprick' size irregularity there is nothing. Some ligament damage was discovered behind the ear on the same side (where the neck joins the skull) which was treated with shockwave treatment, as the vet thought it might be causing sufficient pain for him to 'whince' with his eye. Needless to say 3 treatments later - no luck.

Sorry to go on and on... but I hate to think people are judging me at times when they see him this way, but I am so so stuck as what to do next. Surely four vet practices (and countless different vets) cant all be wrong... Please help someone!! x

 

[Llwyncwn]

Helly Tennyson and welcome to the forum.

Im sorry I cant help you on this, however one of the forum users is pretty expert on eyes (compared to your average vet) and Im sure will respond later tonight - her name is Box_of_Frogs.

Have you asked for a referral to an eye specialist? That would be my first port of call. If you have no luck, I would probably e-mail Prof. Derek Knottenbelt at Liverpool University who is expert in almost everything and should by right receive a sainthood whilst living. If he cant help, then he will know someone who can.

Please keep us updated and let us know how your boy gets on.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Blimey Tennyson! What a nightmare! I'm just an ordinary horse owner but 3 years ago I bought an ex-riding school horse after my "plod for a nervous rider" put me in hospital with an almost broken neck lol! Sunny is the sweetest, safest, kindest, most genuine horse I have ever known and I am so lucky that we found each other because I almost swore off horses for ever. When I bought him, he had chronic (and I mean YEARS) conjunctivitis that the riding school hadn't ever bothered to treat properly. I immediately got the local vets to come and have a look but, long story short, within 3 weeks of my buying him, it flipped over into an autoimmune disease called superficial keratitis. Very quickly, I had to learn a HUGE amount about horse's eyes in order to help Sunny.

The symptoms were a cloudy cornea, puffy eye, eye half shut, streaming tears, unhappy ned. Flouroscene dye showed NO ulcers at that time on the cornea but it didn't respond to antibiotics and he had to be whisked off to hospital inside a week or he would have lost the eye immediately. At the hospital, they took swabs to check for bacterial, viral and fungal infections. All came back negative. To this day, we don't know what caused the flip over from conjunctivitis, except that Sunny does have a narrowed tear duct that side (which came first???) and there is a question mark hanging over a link with the herpes virus. They checked inside the eye and, worryingly there were signs of early breakdown of the structure of the eye. There was a low grade secondary uveitis and the tissues behind the cornea were damaged and were absorbing the fluid IN the eye.

Bushy Vets (Gloc - all saints) have a specialist opthalmologist and they diagnosed superficial keratitis and started treating the eye for this autoimmune disease. The primary form of attack was immuno-supressant drops every few hours, combined with atropine to keep the iris dilated to avoid adhesions. If Sunny hadn't been so cooperative, he would have had a lavage system sewn into his eye/mane to allow the drops to be administered safely. This treatment began to work, albeit very slowly. The cloudy patch of damaged cornea began to resolve. I was told it might never clear fully but should shrink to a little blob. I was warned that Sunny might need to stay on a maintenance dose of immuno suppressants for life.

Your ned could possibly have something similar going on. If so, the only thing that works is to try to stop the body reacting to an imaginary infection. It does sound like a low grade conjunctivitis. Sorry if they've done all this but have the vets considered/investigated blocked/narrowed tear ducts, ingrowing eyelashes, weak muscles/nerve impulses to the eyelid, neurological damage, a microscopic foreign body embedded in the cornea or in the underside of the eyelid, worm damage, herpes virus (might be other sites on the body too)? If there is occasional discharge, there MUST be something the horse's body is trying to fight!

This is a HUGE post - PM me if I can help any more or just to chew things over. I would definitely recommend referral to a specialist horse opthalmologist. Don't know where you're based but Bushy Vets are in Dursley, Gloc and I can give you their number if it's any help. x

 

[Jericho]

I have a shetland who managed to poke herself in the eye with a thorn. It healed fine with some ointment but the vet said she will always be prone to irritation and yes it does just flair up for no obvious reason. Sometimes it just weeps a little (clear) and other days the whole eye is swollen and eyelid mostly closed - to the point that I think -"right I am calling the vet first thing tomorrow!" and come the morning it looks much better. The vet has done some tests but in no way the same amount as yours and found no problem. He just thinks that the natural defence of the eye is to close if 'threatened'. The wind I have noticed does seem to play a factor. So - not much help but maybe it is just one of those things.....

Also what about light sensitivity in that eye?