Sarcoid nightmare

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CPalominoR

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Hi All,

I have a 3 1/2 year old Warmblood who recently had laser surgery on his face for a nasty sarcoid.

it is very unusual for a horse of his age to get sarcoids so I have been told and especially on his face and no where else at all! so we went ahead with Laser Surgery, I collapsed when I saw his face there was a huge whole where they had removed the sarcoid but it has healed so beautifully and you can barely see it now.

2 months on I have found 2 really small lumps come up on his face one on his eyelid and the other between his eye socket and ear they are very small however I had the vet out to take a look and giving his last lump turned into a sarcoid he has booked us in for more surgery next month to take them off before they can develop.

I just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this with a youngster and also if they have experienced sarcoids coming up in other places after they removed one and how they have dealt with it all? Im hoping that im having some bad luck but it also gets to the point where you think will this end and if this doesn't end when is enough enough of surgerys and treatments do you choose to leave it or do you continue to treat it ? (Myself my horse is my life and I have had him since he was 9 months old I would sell my house before I stopped treatment but I just want other opinions)

please nice comments I just want to talk to other horsey people about this and see if im the only one!?

x
 
CPalominoR said:
Hi All,

I have a 3 1/2 year old Warmblood who recently had laser surgery on his face for a nasty sarcoid.

it is very unusual for a horse of his age to get sarcoids so I have been told and especially on his face and no where else at all! so we went ahead with Laser Surgery, I collapsed when I saw his face there was a huge whole where they had removed the sarcoid but it has healed so beautifully and you can barely see it now.

2 months on I have found 2 really small lumps come up on his face one on his eyelid and the other between his eye socket and ear they are very small however I had the vet out to take a look and giving his last lump turned into a sarcoid he has booked us in for more surgery next month to take them off before they can develop.

I just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this with a youngster and also if they have experienced sarcoids coming up in other places after they removed one and how they have dealt with it all? Im hoping that im having some bad luck but it also gets to the point where you think will this end and if this doesn't end when is enough enough of surgerys and treatments do you choose to leave it or do you continue to treat it ? (Myself my horse is my life and I have had him since he was 9 months old I would sell my house before I stopped treatment but I just want other opinions)

please nice comments I just want to talk to other horsey people about this and see if im the only one!?

x
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My friend's gelding was older than that when he started suffering from sarcoids. He had some under the girth, around his sheath - the usual places, but by far the worst and biggest problem was under his eyelid. He went to Leahurst to have that one irradiated, everything else was treated with Liverpool Cream. It was all successful.
 
thank you, the eyelid one is very worrying for me, at the minute it could be just a skin tag but I don't want to chance leaving it and it develops into a sarcoid and is big. If its taken off now the scaring will be small if I leave it to grow he could loose a huge bit of his lid while they remove.... thank you for sharing x
 
My 4-year old has a small nodular sarcoid on his inner thigh which appeared literally overnight a couple of months ago. Treatment should have started weeks ago but thanks to delays at my vets and then Liverpool running out of Liverpool cream (how?!) we're still waiting and I'm watching it getting bigger. I am not a happy bunny.

Some sarcoids are more likely to recur and/or spread than others, it depends on the type and location. Prof Knottenbelt at Liverpool was quite concerned about treating my lad quickly because his sarcoid is right on top of a blood vessel so more likely to spread.

A friend's young mare had one on her eyelid, which was irradiated and didn't recur.

ps my lad's looked like a tiny skin tag when it first appeared too - don't wait for it to get any bigger, get it checked out asap.
 
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thank you Buddy's Mum,

can I ask why you have gone straight for cream treatment instead of having laser surgery? I wasn't given the option of creams on my first sarcoid I was told they could laser it off and my chances were much higher rate for non growth so I went with that?
I hope your horse gets treated soon bit of a nightmare and worry for you! x
 
Prof Knottenbelt recommended the cream, because of the size and type of sarcoid and he also felt it was the option least likely to damage the blood vessel.

We'll be starting treatment next week, he's having 3 applications of cream. Fingers crossed it'll work.

Hope all goes well with your boy.
 
No you are not the only one.
My 4 yr old cob developed a sarcoid about an inch away from the junction of her top and bottom lips. It progressed very quickly from being a small lump to being a larger lump which bled. I thought that she was rubbing it and causing it to break open but now I think I was wrong about that.

In July my vet excised it under sedation and local anaesthesia, a biopsy showed that it definitely was a sarcoid. I have been delighted with how it has healed, she didn't fuss with the stitches at all, which is why I now doubt that she was rubbing the sarcoid to make it bleed. The stitches were removed about 2 weeks after the op and it has continued to heal beautifully. She is now ready to wear a bridle, which I was worried about, in case it broke open the scar.
We have been monitoring her carefully but so far I am glad to say that there is no recurrence or sign of any other 'lumps' (touch wood).
 
Seems age isn't really much to do with it at all, thanks for all your replies. Ill keep going and hopefully it all works out for the best!
good luck with all your treatments x
 
I know I recommend this to everyone on here but I promise I don't work for Global Herbs!!!

My horse developed a mixed sarcoid under his eye which disapeared totally by using Globle Herbs Sarc Ex and adding Turmeric to his feed.

They were not large sarcoids and weren't causing him any discomfort but I literally used about 1/5th of the lotion and there is no sign that there was anything there. If you look at my albums there are a couple of pics. One was like a large thumb print slightly raised and the other was like a pea.

My friend has also used the powder successfully.
 
Was the lump sent to the lab for histology to confirm that it was a sarcoid?

The reason I ask is that my grey has had several lumps removed from her head (she's now seven) over the last couple of years and one from her neck. They looked like sarcoids, but it was possible that they were melanomas due to her colour, but no, it was actually a fungus causing them.
 
My boy developed a sarcoid over his eye when he was 4.5 yrs old, he also had some tiny ones under the other eye. The large one which grew very quickly had the iridium wire treatment and has a pretty white scar to show and thankfully nothing has re-appeared since (4 yrs later) and the tiny sarcoids were treated with liverpool cream, all done on the advice of Prof Knottenbelt (lovely very amazing man who has a knack for calming down horse owners on the verge of a meltdown aka me!). After all this another that had developed but not been treated under his chin dropped off about 6 months after the liverpool cream (which was done a few months after the iridium wire) and touch wood, nothing else has appeared and I check like a hawk still!

If in doubt get it checked and referred to liverpool to Prof K :)
 
ive been thinking about the powder myself, mixed reviews as all thing have. ill speak to my vet before purchasing but I think once I have had this surgery I will use that to keep at bay if they pop up again small.
thank you x
 
it was tested once removed and confirmed sarcoid, and due to this my vet recommends taking the other two off however small they are while im still insured and before they get to big or nasty which the first one was x
 
leflynn said:
My boy developed a sarcoid over his eye when he was 4.5 yrs old, he also had some tiny ones under the other eye. The large one which grew very quickly had the iridium wire treatment and has a pretty white scar to show and thankfully nothing has re-appeared since (4 yrs later) and the tiny sarcoids were treated with liverpool cream, all done on the advice of Prof Knottenbelt (lovely very amazing man who has a knack for calming down horse owners on the verge of a meltdown aka me!). After all this another that had developed but not been treated under his chin dropped off about 6 months after the liverpool cream (which was done a few months after the iridium wire) and touch wood, nothing else has appeared and I check like a hawk still!

If in doubt get it checked and referred to liverpool to Prof K :)
Click to expand...

thank you for your advise I think im going to speak to my vet about Prof K! seems as though everyone swears by him and it might save my boy some surgery! does the Liverpool cream hurt them at all? silly question but I would rather him not be in pain x
 
CPalominoR said:
Hi All,

I have a 3 1/2 year old Warmblood who recently had laser surgery on his face for a nasty sarcoid.

it is very unusual for a horse of his age to get sarcoids so I have been told and especially on his face and no where else at all! so we went ahead with Laser Surgery, I collapsed when I saw his face there was a huge whole where they had removed the sarcoid but it has healed so beautifully and you can barely see it now.

2 months on I have found 2 really small lumps come up on his face one on his eyelid and the other between his eye socket and ear they are very small however I had the vet out to take a look and giving his last lump turned into a sarcoid he has booked us in for more surgery next month to take them off before they can develop.

I just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this with a youngster and also if they have experienced sarcoids coming up in other places after they removed one and how they have dealt with it all? Im hoping that im having some bad luck but it also gets to the point where you think will this end and if this doesn't end when is enough enough of surgerys and treatments do you choose to leave it or do you continue to treat it ? (Myself my horse is my life and I have had him since he was 9 months old I would sell my house before I stopped treatment but I just want other opinions)

please nice comments I just want to talk to other horsey people about this and see if im the only one!?

x
Click to expand...

My new mare 5 year old has scarcoids which have or are being treated over the last 4 weeks. One is on her face and had to be treated by us however the others which were tummy inside thigh and between her front legs are being treated by the vet. This is her face one after treatment. She is/ was on Scar - ex too

has your vet seen them??
 
I would give Sarc-ex now. I don't work for them either. Some horses are riddled with the virus and pop out more every time you stress them or on any wound they get. I own one. I put him on Sarc-ex and not only did every sarcoid removed not regrow, some scars reduced markedly in size and grew hair where there was none. But most importantly, he shed tiny bits of hair/skin in big areas around the sarcoids which I believe were hiding virus seeds. Some were actually on his eyelids.

He's been sarcoid free for months now, but dead roots are still popping to the surface and dropping out and so he will stay on it until that completely stops happening. I can't swear it's the Sarc-ex, but he is a horse who had multiple recurring sarcoids which have now stopped, and the timing and progress appear to be directly related.

PS your vet is completely wrong about them being uncommon on young horses. I wonder where they got that idea from?
 
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CPalominoR said:
thank you for your advise I think im going to speak to my vet about Prof K! seems as though everyone swears by him and it might save my boy some surgery! does the Liverpool cream hurt them at all? silly question but I would rather him not be in pain x
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It hurts so much that many of them have to be sedated for the later applications. But I think you will find in any case that it can't be used on the face because of the risk of rubbing it into the eyes.
 
No it isn't used on the face, different sarcoids = different treatments which is why a lot of vets actually get advice from liverpool about treatment. Ones near the eye are often treated with BCG injections.

https://www.liv.ac.uk/sarcoids/treatment/immune/

Oh and yes liverpool treatment does hurt, horses are usually given bute alongside.
 
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My youngster had a sarcoid just under her eye and it was injected with BCG. It was quite stressful at the time but there is no scar now. I always thought it was young horses that were more prone to sarcoids
 
At work we had a 4yo with a sarcoid near and above the eye. I believe it was surgically removed, but we were warned it may well return. 12 years later it still had not!
 
My youngster started with sarcoids at 3. First one appeared on his sheath, which with the vet's knowledge we banded. It fell off and another 3 grew, also on the sheath. Then they started appearing in other places, typically his groin, sheath, buttock cheeks, both axilla, stomach, brisket, neck, face and ear. To cut a long story short he is now riddled with them despite 4 treatments with Liverpool cream over the past 3 years, together with banding, bloodroot cream, cutting and freezing, and laser (plus in the early stages experimenting with homoeopathy, prescription only toothpaste, turmeric, verruca cream, Sarc-Ex etc.!)

In Sept 2014 he had his 3rd treatment of Liverpool cream. By March 2015 most had grown back or hadn't gone, so he was re-treated again in May during a 10 day stay at the vets. The May treatment included much stronger Liverpool cream applied 5 times, and laser to one on his face and ear, which we thought had been successfully treated, but the face one has sadly grown back much more aggressively.

So he now has an appointment to see Prof Knottenbelt at Weipers (Uni of Glasgow) next Tuesday to see if we can finally get to the bottom of why they keep appearing.

He is now 6, and I would hazard a guess that to date it has cost somewhere in the region of £8000 to treat him over the past 3 years. Of course his insurance cover ran out after the 1st 12 months as expected.

However, his mum also had 3 sarcoids appear at the age of 3. She was successfully treated with Liverpool cream once and they all went never to return. I lost her at 18 to something unrelated. Both are chestnut KWPN.

My youngster has 'mixed' sarcoids, and what will work on one, doesn't on another. Some people are lucky in that they can treat them using supplements or creams and they disappear themselves, sadly I am not one of them. Within reason money is not relevant, this particular horse is the last of my breeding line and not only the best one I've bred, but the one I have hoped for all my life. However, there has to come a limit to how many times you can burn holes in a horse before it becomes cruel.

I'm very envious of those who have successfully treated sarcoids without their return, I just wish there was some form of treatment that could be affective on all types.
 
HelenS said:
My youngster started with sarcoids at 3. First one appeared on his sheath, which with the vet's knowledge we banded. It fell off and another 3 grew, also on the sheath. Then they started appearing in other places, typically his groin, sheath, buttock cheeks, both axilla, stomach, brisket, neck, face and ear. To cut a long story short he is now riddled with them despite 4 treatments with Liverpool cream over the past 3 years, together with banding, bloodroot cream, cutting and freezing, and laser (plus in the early stages experimenting with homoeopathy, prescription only toothpaste, turmeric, verruca cream, Sarc-Ex etc.!)

In Sept 2014 he had his 3rd treatment of Liverpool cream. By March 2015 most had grown back or hadn't gone, so he was re-treated again in May during a 10 day stay at the vets. The May treatment included much stronger Liverpool cream applied 5 times, and laser to one on his face and ear, which we thought had been successfully treated, but the face one has sadly grown back much more aggressively.

So he now has an appointment to see Prof Knottenbelt at Weipers (Uni of Glasgow) next Tuesday to see if we can finally get to the bottom of why they keep appearing.

He is now 6, and I would hazard a guess that to date it has cost somewhere in the region of £8000 to treat him over the past 3 years. Of course his insurance cover ran out after the 1st 12 months as expected.

However, his mum also had 3 sarcoids appear at the age of 3. She was successfully treated with Liverpool cream once and they all went never to return. I lost her at 18 to something unrelated. Both are chestnut KWPN.

My youngster has 'mixed' sarcoids, and what will work on one, doesn't on another. Some people are lucky in that they can treat them using supplements or creams and they disappear themselves, sadly I am not one of them. Within reason money is not relevant, this particular horse is the last of my breeding line and not only the best one I've bred, but the one I have hoped for all my life. However, there has to come a limit to how many times you can burn holes in a horse before it becomes cruel.

I'm very envious of those who have successfully treated sarcoids without their return, I just wish there was some form of treatment that could be affective on all types.
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wow sorry to hear your long struggle with Sarcoids its awful. but I now also understand all the different treatments don't always work for different horses. I think its a case by case and I was curious to see who used what and what worked for them but this might not necessarily work for my boy.

your second from last paragraph brought a tear to my eye! you are exactly the same as me I would do all I can for him and vet bills galore but when is enough enough.

wish you all the best with your treatments I hope Prof K helps you and thank you for your comments xx
 
CPalominoR said:
thank you for your advise I think im going to speak to my vet about Prof K! seems as though everyone swears by him and it might save my boy some surgery! does the Liverpool cream hurt them at all? silly question but I would rather him not be in pain x
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Mine wasn't bothered by the liverpool cream and his isn't head shy or bothered about his eyes being touched, I was allowed to apply it myself under vet instruction as I had run out of money on my insurance (rare occurance). He is always head to toe in fly gear from then onwards as they can spread it (apparently) and I didn't want him or any other horses getting them, also protected the face/eyes/wounds when healing. He only had a week or so off from the wire treatment and brought back gently as he stressed and lost a lot of weight, good luck!
 
My 6 year old came to me with sarciods, some smallish ones between front legs, inches away from girth thank goodness and a big old cauliflower bunch on main artery up near sheath/rear hind leg. I have left them well alone and fortunately (other than smothering with sudocream in the summer months to keep the flies from irritating them) they dont seem to have increased in numbers or got angry etc. I am living in hope they will just lurk as they are....
 
There are a lot of good reports about feeding Tumeric in the treatment of sarcoids. There is a FB page started by an Australian vet which gives lots of information and ways to feed it (Tumeric Users Group). I believe Global Herbs Sarcex contains turmeric, which is probably why it is successful in many cases. I would also feed it as a preventative measure if you are successful in getting rid of the sarcoids.
 
Tammytoo said:
There are a lot of good reports about feeding Tumeric in the treatment of sarcoids. There is a FB page started by an Australian vet which gives lots of information and ways to feed it (Tumeric Users Group). I believe Global Herbs Sarcex contains turmeric, which is probably why it is successful in many cases. I would also feed it as a preventative measure if you are successful in getting rid of the sarcoids.
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Turmeric is not in sarc-ex.
 
Sarc-ex Ingredients, from global herbs site.

Guduchi vine
Creat
Eclipta Trailing
Hurricane Weed
Indian ginseng
Indian Gooseberry
Pig Weed
Chebulic myrobalan
 
Tammytoo said:
There are a lot of good reports about feeding Tumeric in the treatment of sarcoids. There is a FB page started by an Australian vet which gives lots of information and ways to feed it (Tumeric Users Group). I believe Global Herbs Sarcex contains turmeric, which is probably why it is successful in many cases. I would also feed it as a preventative measure if you are successful in getting rid of the sarcoids.
Click to expand...


thank you, I have been told turmeric but you have to get the one that's got all the stuff In it as some packets say add pepper and another ingredient so ill check online and purchase along with the Sarc-Ex I think.. aren't your parents always right.. HORSE ARE NEVER ENDING MONEY POTS!! XX
 
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