what can be done about sarcoids on eyes?

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nic_

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my pony has a sarcoid on his upper eye and in the corner of it,
the vet has given us some cream called sarc-off and it has seemed to help , but he hasnt been back out to see us
and he is very slow at responding when you want him
does anyone have any experiance with this?
 
Don't know if my old horse had the same thing or not, but his was a benign sarcoma on the eyelid. It started following a fall a nd was tiny - half the size of my little finger nail. It took 8 years to grow - in fits and starts and never bothered him at all until it started on a growing spurt and kept growing....it was starting to interfere with his ability to blink and became an issue. My wonderful vet treated it with topical creams but this didn't really work. In the end, she removed the eye entirely (he was aged 26 by this time) and he recovered brilliantly and I suspect never missed it as he probably couldn't see much out of it anyway. He lived for another 6 years and was in work until he was 30 and he was A1 grand up to the end - he was PTS on Boxing Day 2006 following a tendon injury, so no relation to the eye probs at all.

I would get it checked out tho as if it is maligant, you want to deal with it sooner rather than later.

Good luck,

Catherine
 
be very careful using cream like that in the summer around eyes, in case the pony sweats or the cream melts and runs into his eye.
if he's slow to respond when you want him, (i'm guessing you mean in the field) you need more treats for when he does come!
 

I wonder if your vet is slow in responding because he knows that it is not an emergency, and the sarcoid will take time to respond to treatment??

Either way, obviously if you want the vet to take another look at your horse, all you have to do is make an appointment.......
smile.gif
 
As Kerilli said, treatments of sarcoids in this area can be tricky because many of the better treatments are toxic to the eye.

For this reason it is preferable to inject chemicals that are toxic to the tumour cells into sarcoids at this site rather than applying them topically. Various chemicals can be used for this purpose. Another treatment used is injection of the BCG vaccine into the sarcoid. This encourages the horses immune system to attack the tumour. If these treatments fail then radiotherapy is an option. Radioactive rods are inserted into the sarcoid and destroy it.

Once you start treating a sarcoid it is important to continue as due to the irritant nature of topical treatments they can become aggravated and develop more rapidly. I would speak to your vet again and establish a treatment plan because it's important to get on top of sarcoids in this area before they start interferring with the function of the eyelid
 
We have a pony who developed a sarcoid on on the lateral canthus of his eye that grew very quickly and was in danger of damaging the cornea. He was referred to the Cambridge University Queens Veterinary Hospital and treated by Colin Roberts with BCG Injections. He had about 7 injections over a 9 month period and the sarcoid completely disappeared and has stayed away for over 2 years now. There is no scarring or any trace of the Sarcoid. The treatment with radioactive rods used to be carried out by Cambridge but apparently it is very dangerous to the Technicians and therefore very expensive. The BCG Therapy is a successful alternative. I think the whole treatment was about £1000 - worth every penny. They are considered quite dangerous around the eye because of the potential of damaging the cornea which would result in blindness: our vet certainly didnt delay in referring us to Queens. PM me if you need any more info.
 
Someone I know had one surgically removed and that was on the eye lid of their horse.

My other horse as a younster had 4 under his legs and around his sheath area, we had them removed by the vet with a light sedation, they never came back.

Some horses get them as youngsters and sometimes they go on their own too.
 
Mine also had perioccular nodular sarcoids. I think there were about 4 in total. She had the BCG treatment, over a 7 month period. It was completely successful. I also gave her Thuja (homeopathic) for a few days before and after each injection. The vets kept saying it would swell terribly and eventually burstm but it never did. I dont know of the thuja made the difference or not, but the vet did ask me for the name of it after the 3rd cycle!
The only draw back was that I had to take the horse to the vet hospital each time (90 mile round journey) because apparently there is a risk of anaphalactic(?) shock which increases with each injection. If this had occured then at least we would have been at the hospital with all the necessary treatment on hand.
Its 3 or 4 years now since it was done and she is fine.
 
I've also heard that it's BCG they use for ones around the eye. No harm in tring thuja tablets. They won't have side effects nor make it worse and may well help.
 
I used Camrosa on a mare of mine who had a sarcoid in the corner of her eye. My vet was sceptical,but as mare was in foal at the time, didn't want to remove surgically. Anyhoo, it took a while , but the sarcoid disappeared completely, never to be seen again.
 
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