ocular squamous cell carcinoma

[Winters100]

Anyone got any experience with this? One of mine looks like he might have it, have to wait for the opthamologist next week, but the vet says that it looks like it could be this. Would be good to hear of anyone whose horse has been through this surgery.

 

[Red-1]

Yes! I saw a tiny 'fault' in the eye, had her straight over to the vet, who said they could barely see anything, and asked me to put drops in the eye, to return in 2 weeks. After 1 week I was not happy as it had grown, was not prepared to wait another week.

Rung vet (equine hospital), to tell him that eyes are too important, and asking for a referral to whoever was the top eye specialist in the country. Said I would travel her up to the top of Scotland or to the bottom of England, bt I wanted the top eye specialist. Unexpectedly, the top man was going a clinic in the next town to me the week after, so we were referred, he agreed with me and he operated very quickly.

It was a GA, she recovered well, had a tube into her eye through the lid to flush, tube plaited down the mane. The operation had gone well, but even so the tumour had gone down into her tear duct so that had to be partly removed. It left the ,one of the lower lid slightly compromised, and she always had a slightly runny eye from that day on. But, it healed well, never got infected and she went on with her eventing career.

I dread to think what would have happened if I had hesitated and not insisted on a quick referral and then quick operation, as it was really tiny when I first saw it and still compromised the tear duct.

It was never an issue again though.

 

[Winters100]

Thank you. That is encouraging. My vet said that it is very small and (if it is this) has been caught very early, so I just have to hope. Here the best opthamologist is away until Thursday, but she has agreed to come Friday morning. If he has to have surgery it is about 80 km away, so not too bad. This year is not going my way so far. Have been away from the horses for 6 weeks already, looking after sick Mother and then quarantine. Now waiting for results of covid test - hopefully negative as if not it will be a real problem to deal with this remotely

 

[Winters100]

PS - Red thank you very very much for taking time to reply. Sorry that I am whinging, just a bit overwhelmed with the situation, tomorrow will be better.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

Please try and stay hopeful. I had a big skewbald, just 5 years old with this. My own vet (I lived in the Uk in Norfolk at the time) operated but it very quickly became an issue again. We were referred to Newmarket and the (then, anyway) leading expert in this field in the UK operated again.

I attended the initial consultation and listened heart broken as he explained to his students that this is relatively common in piebald and skewbald horses, prognosis was rarely good with them, and this horse was unlikely to survive for more than another couple of years tops before it became an ongoing problem that could no longer be treated, but he would operate to remove as much as he could.

It all went pretty much as RED-1 describes, except in his case they did also insert an optical lens to protect his eye as the whole of his inner eyelid was removed in the operation. Eventually they removed the lens and assessed him with low level vision left in that eye. I am happy to say he lived for another 16 years, we did everything imaginable together, he could occasionally do a very weird banana shaped duck with his head as we passed unusual objects as he twisted to use his 'good' eye to see what it was lol!

His eventual demise was not related in any way to the former eye problem, but in his later years I think probably the sight in that eye declined further, he did look like a big old hairy snake when he wiggled his head side to side and forward as inspected what treats you were offering him!

Good luck and please do let us know how it goes.

 

[Winters100]

Thank you Mrs Jingle x

 

[[59668]]

Yes ....actually on the white of his eye
Horse was diagnosed and went to Newmarket for treatment. I was told at the time there was a high liklihood of recurrence.
1 year later it was back.
Opted to have the eye removed. I sadly lost him 2 weeks later at the age of 8 to associated complications, uveitis in his remaining eye and ataxia. Possibly the cancer had spread to his brain and caused these issues. Its hard to say.
I'm sorry I don't have a better outcome.

 

[Winters100]

I'm sorry [59668]. That is very sad.

 

[jojo5]

The horse in my pic had this at the age of about 28. (He had previously had squamous cell c on his penis about 5 years earlier.) His inner eyelid was removed - he coped well and the vet was very pleased with the result. He did not seem to have any problems after the operation - as we were going into summer at the time we put a full fly mask on him in the field to keep flies away. He was still ridden ( though not often due to age), and seemed completely unaffected after the procedure. We had to let him go at the age of 31, when he just ’told us he was tired’. Hope all goes well.

 

[Winters100]

Thank you Jojo - he looks like a lovely boy.

 

[Winters100]

So as an update we have now seen the opthamologist and he has a very small growth on his third eyelid, so it will be removed. They want to do it under GA, but I am wondering about this as I have subsequently read that this is quite often done as a standing surgery. ANy opinions on this? Thanks!

 

[ycbm]

I would never put a horse under if it can be done standing, Winters. The danger of an accident in the recovery room is, for me, too high. A very much secondary issue is unnecessary cost.

ETA I'm sorry about the diagnosis, you don't need that right now

 

[Winters100]

Thanks ycbm, Kind of you to take the time to reply. Yes I agree about the risks, if it can possibly be done standing I would much prefer it. This particular horse is a strange one, ridden as brave as a lion but handled from the ground nervous as a kitten. I suppose that is why they advised GA, but now I know it can be done standing I need to discuss with them again. x

 

[Red-1]

Mine was done by GA. At a major hospital, so they had a padded recovery room. I can't imagine if they flinched with a scalpel in their eye, it seemed sensible to me to have a GA.

I would want a GA too, if someone was cutting into my eye

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

My boy was done standing for both ops - by my own vet and then again by the Newmarket specialist at a New market vet hospital that had all the facilities for GA and recovery obviously, but they chose to do it with him standing (just about standing! I saw him moments before the op began) and they also completely removed his inner eyelid at the same time as the growth. But it was a good 25 years ago so maybe things have changed now I don't know?

 

[tristar]

i have had a horses eye removed under sedation, it went fine, he recovered very quickly, x

 

[jojo5]

Hi again, W, as mentioned before, my old boy had his third eyelid removed. He was at the vets overnight, but was done standing - am guessing part of that decision was his age at the time which was around 29/30 actually now I think about it rather than 28 as I said before. It was a joint decision to go ahead at that age as he was so well in himself otherwise. He came back as if nothing had happened. Hope all goes well for you.

 

[Winters100]

Thank you everyone x

 

[skint1]

So as an update we have now seen the opthamologist and he has a very small growth on his third eyelid, so it will be removed. They want to do it under GA, but I am wondering about this as I have subsequently read that this is quite often done as a standing surgery. ANy opinions on this? Thanks!

Hi, my horse had a growth on his eyelid, it was removed under standing anaesthetic, It took quite a while to diagnose, so I was disappointed with my vet but he was so relieved afterwards, that was lovely. It's been 3 years now, no reoccurrence

 

[Winters100]

In case anyone is interested he is coming back from the hospital tomorrow. In the end they managed to do it as a standing surgery, which quite frankly they deserve a medal for with this particular horse. I will be very happy to have him back, although obviously with the EHV situation he will have to go to the quarantine box for a while. Thanks all for the information and support.

 

[ycbm]

Hoping for a smooth recovery for you both, W100. How is your hand these days, that sound nasty for a while?

 

[Winters100]

Hoping for a smooth recovery for you both, W100. How is your hand these days, that sound nasty for a while?

Thank you, and that is so kind of you to remember about the hand. It is really good now thank you, no pain and almost as strong as the other hand. I was so lucky to be signed into 6 weeks of treatment for it, half a day every day, doing several different treatments including physio and occupational therapy. The treatment was quite painful at times but SO worth it - if you ever hear of anyone with the same problem I would really recommend looking for something like this. I was super lucky because usually you wait a long time for a place, but because of Covid they had cancellations, and it was in a hospital which I had been volunteering in at the start of the pandemic when they were short of staff, so I got a place.

My biggest problem now is not my hand, but my Mum's. Just after her recovery from pneumonia she had a fall and broke her wrist - seems like there is always something this year! But I am sure we will get through it.

Thanks so much and hoping that you are well

 

[brighteyes]

In case anyone is interested he is coming back from the hospital tomorrow. In the end they managed to do it as a standing surgery, which quite frankly they deserve a medal for with this particular horse. I will be very happy to have him back, although obviously with the EHV situation he will have to go to the quarantine box for a while. Thanks all for the information and support.

I hope it's plain sailing from here on in.

 

[jojo5]

Glad to hear about your boy, and your hand. Hoping for a manageable recovery for your mum, and then a bit of downtime for you!