Spring and summer weather leads to more trail riding and other activities with horses exposed to potential eye damage from contact with bushes, trees, weeds and other situations where eyes may be scratched or brushed by foreign objects.
Paint horse with a healthy eye looking at you
Treatment of eye ulcers can vary from topical ointment to minimize infection and provide pain relief to surgical corneal grafts.
© 2016 by Kent Weakley New window.
Ulcers or scratches to the surface of the eye are common and may be also be caused by scratches from grass seeds or rubbing. If the ulcer is shallow, it may heal with little to no scar with minimal treatment in several days.
If the ulcer is deeper, it may become inflamed and make the eye look blue. Eye ulcers can quickly become an emergency forming a melting ulcer, descemetocele, or the eye rupturing if left untreated.
A melting ulcer is a serious condition and forms when bacteria or fungi attack the normal outer layer of the eye. The eye tries to fight the infection by getting rid of the diseased tissue. This self- destruction of the delicate surface of the eye leads to the eye melting like candle wax and a ‘tear drop’ forming on the surface of the eye. These ulcers can perforate (rupture) in less than 24 hours and are an emergency. A descemetocele is a deep ulcer that is very close to rupturing. It is often not painful as there are not many nerves located deep within the eye and may be missed or seen as the eye is improving. These eye injuries require intensive medical treatment or surgical intervention to save the eye and may result in a scar on the surface or deeper within the eye.
Treatment of eye ulcers can vary from topical ointment to minimise infection and provide pain relief to surgical corneal grafts. Deep ulcers like wounds on other parts of the body need to be kept free from infection and have adequate blood supply to heal.
Medical support often involves topical ointments installed onto the eye every few hours through a subpalpebral lavage (SPL). An SPL is a tube that allows medications to be delivered to the eye without opening the eyelids. Medical treatment aims to limit infection and provide pain relief.
For the ulcer to heal blood vessels need to grow from the edge of the eye to the ulcer. Blood vessels are only able to migrate at approximately 1mm a day, leading to a deep ulcer in the centre of the eye taking longer to heal than an ulcer near the edge.
Surgery in the form of a conjunctival graft provides blood supply directly to the injured section of the eye which may advance healing. Grafts also support the eye and reduce the risk of the eye rupturing.
Edited press release by Scone Equine Hospital