White mark in eye? Interested to hear your thoughts

Munchkin

Munchkin

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The vet is coming on Tuesday; I'll point that out before I begin!

One of my boys has a white mark in his eye, very difficult to describe. It almost covers his pupil, sort of looks like someone has injected white ink into it which has dribbled a bit and then set. He's had this since before his previous owner bought him (I've just got him) and it doesn't seem to bother him, the eye isn't sore, watery or inflamed and he can see out of it although I'm not sure if he has 100% vision.

Vet's coming on Tues to have a look, but any ideas in the meantime? The closest thing I can find online is an eye ulcer, but it doesn't look that aggressive or like there's anything "in" the eye. It's almost like a scar.

Is it possible to post a pic?
 
Does it look sort of solid or more gelatinous? Wondering if it could be a fibrin clot that hasn't been absorbed or, as you say, scar tissue. To be honest, if its not bothering him its probably best left alone though a fibrin clot can sometimes be dissolved by injecting with enzymes. Would be interested to know what it is once you find out.
 
horseycomedy040-1.jpg
 
Nope, doesn't seem to respond to anything much. It seems to be 'in' his pupil? It actually looks far worse in the pic because I took it with the flash, it's to the right of the pupil, the discolouration to the left is the reflection of the flash
 
Cataract. They form above the pupil so aren't affected by its contraction and dilation. Sometimes they can follow a nasty knock to the head or another head injury. It may get bigger as the horse gets older or it may not. In humans they can remove a cataract and this restores 100% vision although the vision may be a little. I'm pretty sure I've read that they've started doing a similar operation on horses, depending on why the cataract has formed and the stage it's at.
 
I think box of frogs is right, its a mature cataract. The form in the lens and be congenital or acquired. He probably has not much vision in that eye, but as long as only one eye is affected tha shouldn't be too much of a problem. They do cataract surgery in horses, but it's expensive and there are only a few places in the Uk that can do it and it is no way certain that it will restore vision because other parts of the eye may be damaged. Also in human they replace the lens which they don't do in horses so even without the cataract the vison wouldn't be normal.
 
My mare had uveitis a few years back and still has a cloudy mark on her eye, she also has an adolescent cataract which is around the size of a pin prick in the middle of her pupil.
 
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