Eye- started off as ulcer and then blew up

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Ok folks came home from work last Tuesday, got horse in from field. Eye swollen and running it was half closed. Wasn't overly concerned Presumed eye ointment would sort out .Vet came small ulcer on eye and gave anti inflammatory but then injected some paste type antibiotic under the top eye lid. Said this would wash over the eye. Eye lid now huge vet said would be better in a day or so.
Next morning looked like frankensteins horse! Eye lid size of a fist and inside swollen so much you couldn't see eye just pink and raw inner eyelid which horse has rubbed and was now bleeding slightly. Vet called and came back and gave a jab of antiinflammatories. So ive taken pictures every day and eye is going down each day slowly and isn't sore now but I keep ringing vet to discuss and haven't seen him or spoken to him since last Wednesday and today he rang and said coming to see horse tomorrow.

Firstly anyone experience of any eye 'injuries' like this and secondly am I right to feel a bit annoyed that vet came to see horse and essentially made it a lot worse!

 

[Casey76]

Hiya, just a word of warning... A horse on our yard was diagnosed with ulceration + conjunctivitis, then uveitis, and is now hospitalised with eosinophilic keratitis and may be there for 6 weeks.

Eyes are not to be messed with, and if you aren't seeing any improvement after 48 hours you need a second opinion.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Yes, my horse had a swollen eye about this time last year. I got the vet as soon as i noticed the swelling. Vet diagnosed an ulcer, we thought that she had caught it on something in the field, possibly while rolling. Vet was excellent, gave her powerful painkiller (Equinixin),, as we'll as antibiotic drops, I can't remember if she had an ab injection as well. I put drops in for 4 days and then she was fine.
I would be very cross with the treatment your horse received. It sounds as if because there was no pain relief the horse rubbed the eye and made matters worse.

 

[Goldenstar]

Yes, my horse had a swollen eye about this time last year. I got the vet as soon as i noticed the swelling. Vet diagnosed an ulcer, we thought that she had caught it on something in the field, possibly while rolling. Vet was excellent, gave her powerful painkiller (Equinixin),, as we'll as antibiotic drops, I can't remember if she had an ab injection as well. I put drops in for 4 days and then she was fine.
I would be very cross with the treatment your horse received. It sounds as if because there was no pain relief the horse rubbed the eye and made matters worse.

Surely the anti inflammatory was acting as pain relief .
OP this is not good get the vet back today or even better if they have a hospital get the horse straight down there.

 

[Shay]

Echo that - eyes are very vulnerable and not to be messed with. If you have not seen an improvement in 48 hours from starting treatment then you need more help. My cob got an ulcer last year probably as the result of a field injury. I do remember the "Frankenstein eye" stage - but it lasted less than 24 hours. Treatment to clear it lasted about 10 days I think - but there was no visible swelling etc after about day 4 or 5.

 

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Thanks folks, the eye its self actually looks fairly ok to be honest its just the eyelid, which has gone down a bit every day but its a week in now and still more swollen than what we started with! im really annoyed that ive been ringing the vets every day and chasing and only got a call back last night. I know how busy they are and really appreciate the things they have done for my animals in the past but this all feels a bit of a nightmare!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Surely the anti inflammatory was acting as pain relief .
OP this is not good get the vet back today or even better if they have a hospital get the horse straight down there.

The anti inflammatory was not given until the vet came back, the next day, so the horse had been left in pain at least overnight, as the OP had just finished work when she found the swelling. I would be furious with this vet, both because of the initial lack of pain relief and because of the lack of response to phone calls later.

OP, i do hope that you managed to get ho!d of the vet and that the eye is improving. My mare had the Equinixin for 5 days and the an ointment for a few days longer. Her eye was back to normal by the 4th day.

 

[widget]

morning folks

vet came out thursday and agreed that the eye lid having blown up like that was causing far more issues than the ulcer was.

Swelling is finally back to pretty much where we started from 9 days ago! and ulcer is much smaller but at least I can get the eye ointment right into now (rather than guess work). I think its all going to right way but will let you know, have bought a hard core face mask so hes going back in the field tomorrow. Be interesting to see what the vet charges me for as im really quite annoyed by the effect of the 'treatment' and also the total lack of contact on this.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

That sounds like good news!

I would really push yourcvet for the smallest bill possible, he definitely should have administered effective pain relief right st the beginning. Eye ulcers are extremely painful, as I know from personal experience!