uveitis questions?

[pipper]

One of my horses has been diognosed with this eye problem - she has been on Steroid drops for a week now - the eye cleared up completly after a few days and so vet advised to stop the drops which we have - now 36 hours later the eye was up again - vet called out more drops.
I am out of my mind with worry! How do i know if it is the reoccuring sort and not just a one off? How long will it take before i can stop the drops with out it flaring up again. has anyone had any experiences of how long it was before they could stop the drops?
Should i invest in a fly mask for the field ( i have seen the UV ones - but im talking about the normal fly masks) vet feels that the onslaught may have been caused by a trauma but she has an allergy to tree blossom at this time of year so it cant be helping things? Maybe a fly mask would help???
I am so worried - any helpful advise would be appreciated....
many thanks x

 

[yellowdun]

I had ths years ago with a horse. The vet prescribed serum therapy (the horses own blood from which serum was distilled)and these serum drops were used on the eye. It was a fantastic treatment. In addition I used a UV mask that kept 80% of the sun out of his eyes. Never had a problem again.

 

[eggs]

I looked after a mare who had uveitis caused by a trauma injury. We tried the serum therapy but that didn't make any difference.

She had pred forte (or something like that) drops that had to be put in her eye every day which fortunately she did not object to.

She didn't have any more flare ups but we stabled her in the darkest stable and tried not to turn her out on very bright days.

 

[cronkmooar]

I had ths years ago with a horse. The vet prescribed serum therapy (the horses own blood from which serum was distilled)and these serum drops were used on the eye. It was a fantastic treatment. In addition I used a UV mask that kept 80% of the sun out of his eyes. Never had a problem again.

My old boy had a total nightmare with this last summer.

The plasma therapy as mentioned above can only be used in certain circumstances but when it is used can be very successful, the type my boy had was not suitable for this treatment.

With my boy it went on most of the summer - after 2-3 weeks he had a levage (sp?) tube inserted and this was the turning point so I would recommend this if your vet suggests.

Basically the eye lid is peirced and a tube inserted with an injectable bung one end and a sprinkler type thing the other that sits inside the eye it ensures that any medication used is delivered to the eye ball.

A normal fly mask will not help (personal experience) Vet recomended and I am intending to purchase a guardian mask in the next week or so. They not only filter uv but also dust and pollen.

Hope it clears up for you soon - its a bloody nightmare so I feel for you!

ETA the tube was in the horses eye for almost 8 weeks (usually only 2-3) and he was medicated with 3 different drops 4-5 times a day for the first month then it very slowly dropped.

Eye specialist and vet both considered that being able to deliver atropine into the eye successfully was the thing that save my boys eye - which was on the cards to be removed at one point

 

[pootleperkin]

One of mine came down with this last summer.

We treat it in the same way as Cronkmooar and he was also stabled with the lavage catheter in for around 8 weeks until he was weaned off the drugs without the eye flaring up again. We tried to reduce the dose after around 3 weeks, but he flared up again, so we were back to square one. After treatment, on turn out, he was in a Guardian mask during the day and a lighter mask at night.

He was clear all through the summer and autumn and had retained his vision with only small deterioration, until December when he had another flare up for some reason. We got on it really quickly and manage to stop it in its tracks without resorting to the catheter.

In January we then made the decision that we should arrange for him to have a cyclosporin implant, as it seemed clear that the eye was going to continue to deteriorate (it can beome auto-immune, and it appeared to have gone this way in this case). He has had the op this week, but sadly it would appear that over the last month or so his vision has deteriorated further without any discernable flare ups. Hopefully the implant will allow him to retain the eye and any vision he has left, but what I would say is don't underestimate the disease and find a vet who really knows what they are doing with eyes.

The biggest mistake you can make is to take them off atropine and pre-forte too quickly. There is an argument to give bute on a low dose continually too (we did on and off) as the pain often seems to trigger the immune response and it does of course have an anti-imflammatory effect. Good luck!

 

[cronkmooar]

Pootleperkin I would be really interested in how your horse gets on - a PM would be really appreciated. Fingers crossed for you.

The cyclosporin implant was also suggested to me, however the horse is 24, and would have a four hour boat journey to get to the nearest equine hospital, he has also had a previous pelvic fracture which could have been affected when they dropped him so I decided taking into consideration all of this I would remove the eye if it became nessessary.

There was a vet type program on not so long ago where there was an implant put in a highland pony which was very interesting to watch and it did have the desired effect.

I also used bute and this was continued for a month after the tube was removed slowly reducing the dose.

Do you consider the guardian mask to have been useful?

 

[pootleperkin]

Hi again,

Just a quick reply as have to go out, but I think the Guardian mask has been a life saver - we wouldn't have considered putting him out half as much (which he loves) if it wasn't for that.

It takes 40 days for the cyclosporin implant to kick in, so will let you know how it goes.

 

[McNally]

Hi, I know what your going through and how crappy it feels so hugs to you.
When my youngster was diagnosed with recurring ueveitus (sp sorry!) last year i was devastated, I posted on forums and read as much as i could. The stories i heard were horrific as were photo's people showed me.
IF the worst happens and your horse does have the recurring sort Its NOT the end of the world.
My pony is now blind in one eye and its slightly cloudy looking permanently but he hacks jumps and lives like a normal horse. I have become a pro at noticing the signs- the slightest hint of a flare up and i drop him straight away.
I buy the Equilibrium fly hoods- they are not as good as guardian ones but for fraction of the price they do filter out much of the UV rays.- He also wears it in the snow!

Other than this once i got over the shock he is treated like a normal horse and i've all but forgotten he has such a serious issue!

Of course i am not fighting to save sight- its already gone sadly I may well be far more stressy about it if going blind was an option