Recurrent eye ulcers

[EquineEEF]

TB Gelding has had recurrent eye ulcers twice in both eyes in the last year. I will summarise below the position but wondering if anyone has had anything similar…

First ulcers appeared last august, in both eyes.
Tested for Cushing - negative
Took months of antibiotics, plasma, debriding and oral antibiotics to heal.
One eye healed completed the other has healed by has left a small white dot of scarring.
Ulcers reoccurred in both eyes three weeks ago.
Same course of treatment and healing quicker this time.

Uveitis has been ruled out. Initially allergies or external irritants were excluded as the cause but each time the ulcers have occurred either crops or hay are being cut in the adjoining fields. So I am now thinking this must be the cause. Interested to know if anyone has had anything similar with allergies from crop cutting etc and how you have managed it.

Many thanks

 

[paddy555]

Bei Facebook anmelden

Melde dich bei Facebook an, um dich mit deinen Freunden, deiner Familie und Personen, die du kennst, zu verbinden und Inhalte zu teilen.

www.facebook.com

hope this link works.

It says it is an ERU group but in fact it deals with all equine eye situations. There have been plenty of ulcers on there and it is the most helpful and knowledgeable group for eye problems.

If you believe the ulcers have occurred due to crop cutting then you could try eliminating the cause. If you know (or can find out) when a crop is going to be cut you could try an equivisor mask covering that time and see if there is a difference.

 

[Chianti]

I had this years ago with my last horse. She was seen by several vets and an opthamologist but we never worked out what was causing them as they happened all year. The vet thought it was just because she was rubbing but we never worked out why and it wasn't something she did all the time. She had daily steroid eye drops but I never knew if these really helped as she still got the ulcers. There was no pattern to these - she got them in both eyes - sometimes they were just a pin prick in size and others quite large. They are hard to deal with - early on the vet sewed her eyelids together as the ulcer wouldn't heal. If you think it's the hay being cut can you move yards? I

 

[paddy555]

All Recovery Equivizors

The Recovery Equivizor is for horses suffering Uveitis, recovering from eye surgery or habitual eye scratching. Made of soft PVC. The mask is available in sizes foal, pony, cob, full and extra large, dark or light tinted, and includes a UV-resistant fly mesh for extra protection.

www.equivizor.co.uk

they are not cheap but are intended for horses in fields. There are often ones for sale on the FB group above where people have needed them before operating/for recovery etc and no longer need them.
OTOH the procedures you have listed are not cheap either, nor is the pain to the horse so you may consider one a worthwhile investment to prove your point one way or another.

Initially allergies or external irritants were excluded as the cause but each time the ulcers have occurred either crops or hay are being cut in the adjoining fields. So I am now thinking this must be the cause.

no idea but based on my own experiences with an eye I would very much go with your gut instinct and try and rule it out.
Your vet/opto only sees the horse for a very short period of time. You are the one who sees it everyday and can see patterns.

 

[EquineEEF]

Bei Facebook anmelden

Melde dich bei Facebook an, um dich mit deinen Freunden, deiner Familie und Personen, die du kennst, zu verbinden und Inhalte zu teilen.

www.facebook.com

hope this link works.

It says it is an ERU group but in fact it deals with all equine eye situations. There have been plenty of ulcers on there and it is the most helpful and knowledgeable group for eye problems.

If you believe the ulcers have occurred due to crop cutting then you could try eliminating the cause. If you know (or can find out) when a crop is going to be cut you could try an equivisor mask covering that time and see if there is a difference.

Thank you for the Facebook group suggestion, I will take a look.

 

[EquineEEF]

I had this years ago with my last horse. She was seen by several vets and an opthamologist but we never worked out what was causing them as they happened all year. The vet thought it was just because she was rubbing but we never worked out why and it wasn't something she did all the time. She had daily steroid eye drops but I never knew if these really helped as she still got the ulcers. There was no pattern to these - she got them in both eyes - sometimes they were just a pin prick in size and others quite large. They are hard to deal with - early on the vet sewed her eyelids together as the ulcer wouldn't heal. If you think it's the hay being cut can you move yards? I

They are incredibly difficult to deal with I agree. He had a drip put in in the end so he could have round the clock drops and that did make life abit easier, but I am racking up vets bills like no one’s business!

 

[Reacher]

My TB had recurrent eye ulcers and the conclusion was the ulcer was never properly healing so she went to the eye hospital and had it debrided in 2018. After healing it was fine up until recently when it stated getting a little weepy now and again, so we may be looking at another trip to the eye hospital.

 

[xxKatxx]

My mare was getting recurrent eye ulcers and eventually was seen by a specialist who found a tiny tumour in the underside of her eyelid which was rubbing and causing the ulcers, just mentioning it as a possibility other than allergies as it really wasn’t something that had occurred to anyone before he saw her! The specialist eye vet was well worth the money for the consultation, I’d recommend it.

 

[Zoeypxo]

My horse had 2 in succession the second one leaving quite a scar, it doesnt affect vision but is pretty noticeable.
Could’ve just been bad luck but the 2 things i suspect are when she came into the yard after rain she would always rub her face all over the haynet (wasnt allowed to feed hay off the floor) the hay was very seedy.
Also she was right down the end of an indoor barn, round bale was by the entrance of the yard, wind would trap and blow all the seeds down my way. It happened twice in winter.
She now lives out and has hay off the floor if she does come in and never had one since. Who knows!
Mine was also awful to do eye drops etc and almost had to have a drain type thing put in the back of her eye

 

[EquineEEF]

Update

The right eye is starting to getting weepy again with what looks like a small ulcer

So in the last year this will be two ulcers in the right and three in the left with absolutely no clue as to what’s causing it. The ulcers in the right have always been less severe and not required the drip put in but still that’s alot of ulcers in one year when he’s never had a single eye problem before this!

There seems to be very little research on reoccurring eye ulcers other than those that are due to uveitis, which according to our vet this is not.

His cushings test was in the “grey” area at 40 so we are re testing that but other than that we are at a total lost as to what to do so if anyone has any experience in anything similar I would be very grateful.

Thanks for all input so far.

 

[Reacher]

Sorry OP if you’ve already explained, but has he only been seen by local vets or has he been refuting a specialist?

 

[EquineEEF]

Our vet practise is an eye hospital, so the eye specialist hasn’t seen him in person but everything has been run by him. Although as I was posting the update this morning I was thinking it might be worth getting our boy to the eye hospital for an in person review. Very annoyingly due to our not being an ex racer he was moved on to a veteran policy at the last renewal so whilst insurance covered the initial vets fees he’s no longer covered for any eye issues hence my desperate hope to get things under control.

 

[paddy555]

as a minimum I think he needs to be examined by a specialist to establish the situation. I'm surprised if your vet is at an eye hospital they didn't suggest this long ago. I don't see how a specialist can comment on things run by him unless he has examined him in person under exam. conditions.

 

[Zuzzie]

My horse had 2 in succession the second one leaving quite a scar, it doesnt affect vision but is pretty noticeable.
Could’ve just been bad luck but the 2 things i suspect are when she came into the yard after rain she would always rub her face all over the haynet (wasnt allowed to feed hay off the floor) the hay was very seedy.
Also she was right down the end of an indoor barn, round bale was by the entrance of the yard, wind would trap and blow all the seeds down my way. It happened twice in winter.
She now lives out and has hay off the floor if she does come in and never had one since. Who knows!
Mine was also awful to do eye drops etc and almost had to have a drain type thing put in the back of her eye

Same here! My horse used to rub is face over his hay net. He has had 3 problems with his left eye - fortunately dealt with by antibiotic drops and steroids. One of the incidents showed he had a scratch on the surface of his eye. I now feed from the floor. Vet advised me to turn out with a fly mask and to ride in a mask too. This has helped. On the one occasion, when it was raining, I turned him out without the mask. Next day his eye was weeping but I got it under control rapidly so now, no matter what the weather, he has a mask on!

 

[Noble]

Has Auto Immune Keratitis been discussed at all or the horse in question been given Optimmune as an investigative option?

 

[EquineEEF]

Has Auto Immune Keratitis been discussed at all or the horse in question been given Optimmune as an investigative option?

It was mentioned by our vet today but he didn’t seem to think there was any way of treating it? Is optimmune a drop? At this point I’m happy to try anything that might help us manage it. I’m wondering also if there is anything similar to a spray mist that us humans use for dry eye!

 

[EquineEEF]

as a minimum I think he needs to be examined by a specialist to establish the situation. I'm surprised if your vet is at an eye hospital they didn't suggest this long ago. I don't see how a specialist can comment on things run by him unless he has examined him in person under exam. conditions.

My mistake, he was seen by the eye vet back last summer- I had forgotten that appointment in amongst all the others we have had.

 

[Reacher]

My mistake, he was seen by the eye vet back last summer- I had forgotten that appointment in amongst all the others we have had.

If it’s a while since he saw the specialist I’d be wanting him seen by a specialist again. (Also I’m a bit confused by your “normal” vet practice also being an eye hospital? Are you in UK? )

 

[Mariposa]

Hi - jumping on this thread too as I’m also having awful eye issues with my old TB. She had an ulcer in one last August, then huge ulcers in both in the autumn, saw the specialists twice, they had Diamond burr debridement - twice - she was ok but then they came back in May, and since then she’s been ok until yesterday - and boom, ulcers in both eyes again, with a large ‘rough’ area in both eyes too. She was being so carefully managed, lubricant gel in eyes every day, hay on the ground, out at night, bought in early, a Guardian mask , UVE PRO eye supplement, and it feels like we just can’t win. It’s been suggested it is an autoimmune issue, and we’ve got the eye specialist coming next week again. I feel like I’m banging my head against a wall, she is retired and all I want for her is a lovely retirement, not being poked and prodded.
Has anyone had any experience of this? Any words of wisdom? Or miracle cure?!

 

[EquineEEF]

Hey @Mariposa so sorry you are having the same issues as us! So frustrating and sad for our poor horses.

So we have just had a positive diagnosis for Cushing which they think is the reason the ulcers take ages to heal and why he is getting them so easily ( horse with cushings have thinner membranes so cut/ damage more easily as they are more fragile) but not necessarily the causes of them. We think we have narrowed the cause down to him being allergic to the dust when the crops are being cut in the adjoining fields causing him to itch his face, even with a fly mask on. Every time something is cut he gets an ulcer or a sore eye, if we manage to catch it earlier enough. Are you surrounded by fields that are cut at certain times of the year?

We had the inital cushings test done and he came back in the “Grey area” we then had a more accurate test done and it was this that identified he did have cushings. So the plan now is to get that under control - he’s started medication and then manage the allergy he is having to the crops, with steroids. Has your horse been tested for cushings?

 

[Mariposa]

Hey @Mariposa so sorry you are having the same issues as us! So frustrating and sad for our poor horses.

So we have just had a positive diagnosis for Cushing which they think is the reason the ulcers take ages to heal and why he is getting them so easily ( horse with cushings have thinner membranes so cut/ damage more easily as they are more fragile) but not necessarily the causes of them. We think we have narrowed the cause down to him being allergic to the dust when the crops are being cut in the adjoining fields causing him to itch his face, even with a fly mask on. Every time something is cut he gets an ulcer or a sore eye, if we manage to catch it earlier enough. Are you surrounded by fields that are cut at certain times of the year?

We had the inital cushings test done and he came back in the “Grey area” we then had a more accurate test done and it was this that identified he did have cushings. So the plan now is to get that under control - he’s started medication and then manage the allergy he is having to the crops, with steroids. Has your horse been tested for cushings?

Oh I’m so pleased you might have gotten to the bottom of the ulcers with your boy!

She’s not been tested for Cushings as the vet didn’t think she had any obvious symptoms, but I was ask them to test as she is 20 so you never know! Vet is coming back on Wednesday so I’ll ask him to test. We can’t seem to find a pattern as to when she gets them, I wish it was something we could pin down.
I just feel so sorry for her, she hates having drops/gel in her eyes and she is being so tolerant of me.

 

[EquineEEF]

Oh I’m so pleased you might have gotten to the bottom of the ulcers with your boy!

She’s not been tested for Cushings as the vet didn’t think she had any obvious symptoms, but I was ask them to test as she is 20 so you never know! Vet is coming back on Wednesday so I’ll ask him to test. We can’t seem to find a pattern as to when she gets them, I wish it was something we could pin down.
I just feel so sorry for her, she hates having drops/gel in her eyes and she is being so tolerant of me.

How did you get on with the vet? We spent a year being baffled by them so hopefully you manage to find some link too.

 

[Oldernewbie]

Have they tested to see if there is sufficient tear production? I have a dog who had recurring eye ulcers and they found she had insufficient tears- Simple lubricant gel has fixed it and no more ulcers!

 

[shortstuff99]

Also random but recurring eye ulcers and uevitis can also be symptoms of weils disease.

 

[EquineEEF]

Have they tested to see if there is sufficient tear production? I have a dog who had recurring eye ulcers and they found she had insufficient tears- Simple lubricant gel has fixed it and no more ulcers!

That’s interesting. Thanks for sharing. We have the vet coming back next week so I will certainly ask. They do get quite dry so definitely worth asking.

 

[EquineEEF]

Also random but recurring eye ulcers and uevitis can also be symptoms of weils disease.

Thank you! I didn’t know that. I’ll ask the vet when she comes next week.