Mary Allen
Only rapid emergency treatment saves the eyesight.
Most pet owners take their pet to the vet immediately if they notice an unusual appearance: the pet usually reacts to the stimulus with a conspicuous eyelid spasm (blepharospasm).
What is a warning sign for the owner is quite an obstacle for the veterinarian. The eye can often only be viewed completely after appropriate anesthesia. In the case of acute symptoms in particular, the examination should not be completed until the entire eye has been examined. Many injuries are on the edge of the cornea (limbus) – for example, the cornea incision on the picture below was in the left nasal corner of the eye. Only on closer inspection and with the help of the otoscope could the iris prolapse be seen.
Foreign bodies like to hide behind the third eyelid. In particular, awns can have been there for a long time and have dug themselves deep into the mucous membrane. The situation is similar with foreign bodies of plants on the cornea. They are buried there and sometimes even covered by cover tissue (epithelium). Since their environment can be unstimulated, because the inflammation takes place for a long time only in the connective tissue (stroma) directly under the foreign body, they can quickly be overlooked. Sometimes there are only hours between the beginning of the corneal edema (cornea edema) and the perforating ulcer (ulcus).
The changes that an injury to the cornea brings with it only become fully visible under a biomicroscope: The Persian cat in the picture below injured itself on a blade of grass.
The changes in the cornea of a dachshund that had been hit in the eye with a playmate’s paw are much clearer.
Depending on the severity of the impact, further damage can be hidden under a superficial injury. Behind this hematoma of the third lid there was an extensive blunt injury to the nasal section of the ciliary apparatus, which was clearly visible in gonioscopy and which later led to secondary glaucoma.
As long as the media of the eye allow examination of the posterior sections, the retina should also be examined closely.
Not infrequently, as a result of blunt injuries to the eye, even if the externally visible damage appears only minor, extensive retinal hemorrhages up to complete retinal detachment occur. Any bleeding in the anterior chamber of the eye indicates this risk!
Even in the case of major bleeding or incipient detachment, targeted drug therapy can in many cases preserve a significant portion of the eyesight.
Finally, the therapy must not be completed without indirect ophthalmoscopy being performed after 2-4 weeks, or again after about 3 months in the case of bleeding within the eye (intraocular): fibrinous strains can still affect the retina after such periods of time detach. This is the most important reason for later blindness after accidents!