Moon blindness

[Paint it Lucky]

Does anyone have any experience of this condition?
We studied it (briefly!) at uni, but no one (text books or lecturers) seemed to know much about it. One book said the eyes weep badly for a long time until eventually all the fluid in them is gone and they shrivel up making the horse blind! Anyone have a more detailed explanation?

 

[merlinsquest]

Isnt moon blindness another name for Uveitis???? Might be worth googling that??

 

[Thistle]

www.horsemask.com

 

[kizzywiz]

Yes it is uveitis, sorry if this is the wrong thing to say but my pony had to be PTS eventually because of it. Starts with slightly cloudy eye, then sticky tears on the cheek, it is very painful for the horse, we used loads of eye cream & also steroid injections under the eyelids, didn't help in the end sadly & decided not to put her through any more.

 

[S_N]

http://www.igs.net/~vkirkwoodhp/eru.htm

It's not a pleasant thing for a horse to have. I don't think it's curable, but if treated aggressively, can be halted for a time. I'm probably waffling - i haven't had to deal with it for 10yrs....... Progress and all that.....

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Oh blimey PL - you might need to be really brave. My horse Sunny - also known as the One Eyed Wonder - had to have an eye removed a year ago because of superficial keratitis and a linked uveitis. Sadly, I got to be a bit of a low level expert during the 6 month battle to save the eye. He was a totally brilliant patient but in the end he had developed an autoimmune disease in the eye and needed 3 different drops in it twice a day. At one point, he got stabbed in the eye with the end of the drops tube, by the staff putting the stuff in his eye. And nobody told me it had happened. That was the beginning of the end. His own eye tried to save itself by growing blood vessels across the cornea (the clear bit) - this is called neovascularisation. But in the end a further massive ulcer bloomed deep in the cornea and poor Sunny had just had enough and he went back to Gloucester for the eye to be removed. I live in a constant state of dread because when I bought him he had TWO gungy eyes that his previous owners hadn't botheredf to clear up. The vet said we'll never know what tipped chronic conjunctivitis over into superficial keratitis and uveitis but the implications are clear. It could strike the remaining eye (which is still very abnormal and intermittently gungy) and he doesn't have a spare any longer. The vet did say that it would be extremely unlucky if he developed it in the other eye too so try to stay positive. Not sure if your horse has exactly the same thing as Sunny but hold tight to the thought that even if the worse comes to the worse and he loses the eye, I'm still riding Sunny round, having lessons, and plan to take him in our first EVER walk and trot dressage competition in October! He's 20 by the way and a 15.2 Section D gelding. Don't know how to get pix onto this forum or would send u pic. PM me if you wanna talk more or wanna swop e-mails so I can send you pix of the One Eyed Wonder! Also known (and very much loved) at my yard as The Fat One Eyed Cob! Safest horse on the yard bar none. Keep smiling and PLEASE let me know how things turn out xxx

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

PL - just read your ringbone post - not sure if you're a vet! Didn't realise you are far more knowledgeable than me so please don't take offence at my ramblings above - was just trying to let you know that even if things get bleak (as I'm sure you know) a horse does remarkably well with just one eye. Do hope you get some good news. x

 

[zigzag]

Yes I know a horse with it, she had a weepy eye for months ,various eye drops creams etc, didn't help , didn;t like light and it was painful, went to Liverpool, where they were going to treat it (can't remeber exactly what they did) but complications arose and she got n infection in the eye, they eventually removed the ey, coped well with the one eye, but they did say she had a 70/80% chance of it developing in the other eye and two years on that eye is starting to weep and she is having drops etc which do seem to be working

 

[merlinsquest]

Having had merlin (albeit wrongly) diagnosed with it 2 years ago, and having gone through the various scenarios of what could happen, i think i am safe to say that it can travel from one eye to the other.

I thought that by removing one eye you would save the other, but that was not what my vet said.

Thank goodness it turned out to be a tiny ulcer at the bottom of the eye ball, not uveitis at all.