Question: why does heat application in corneal ulceration bring more antibiotics to the region?
Answer: Heat opens up blood vessels, including capillaries, allowing more medication to get to your cornea. The cornea and lens of your eye don't have a very good blood supply. They actually get most of their nutrients. oxygen, etc. from the fluid that fills the anterior chamber of your eye, which in turn gets it from the blood vessels surrounding the anterior chamber.
Question: What is corneal ulceration? i know you can get it from sleeping in contacts but what is it?
Answer: It means the covering of your eye has an abrasion on it. They hurt like CRAZY. Generally they heal pretty fast if the thing that causes it is removed: dirt in eye, eyelashes rubbing eye, torn contact.
Question: What do you do to rule out corneal ulcerations when your? horse has an eye injury....do you contact your veterinarian immediately when you discover your horse has injured his eye?
Answer: You should always contact your vet when your horse damages it's eye. This is because it is possible to have serious damage that is not visible to the naked eye--many scratches can't be seen without staining the eye. Plus eyes are very prone to infection and slow to heal which increases the risk of serious fungal or bacterial infections that can damage the integrity of the cornea and lead to rupture of the eye.
Even waiting a day or two can lead to your horse loosing vision in that eye.
Question: Dog eye corneal ulceration not healing after 6 weeks and $450 -- What should I do? Maxie is a 7 yr. old, 50 lb., unneutered male, half-boxer half-lab.
From my Internet research so far, the Vet seems to have done everything right. First visit/exam: Atropine, Fluorescein, Schirmer, and Tonometry. Diagnosis: (Complicated) Corneal Ulceration. Prescribed Triple Antibiotic and Rimadyl.
Four more visits over the following six weeks wherein Fluorescein repeated. Rimadyl eventually discontinued (Maxie seems not to be in pain and no swelling). Fourth visit: Corneal Scrape/Debride using cotton swab and, according to Vet, some flat plates around ulcer removed. Antibiotic changed to Terramycin.
Break in Vet visits at my discretion for 3 weeks now (continuing Terramycin, once every six to eight hours), because there is virtually NO CHANGE in Maxie's eye from first visit to now.
Why is ulceration not healing? What are my options now? Thank you very much for your help.
--Steve
Answer: I'm very sorry but if your dog's eye is not healed by now, it likely never will. There is a certain level at which the cornea cannot repair itself. The good news is, there are no nerves there, so it is unlikely your dog will ever feel any pain. In the future, if you have the money, your vet may be able to do a corneal transplant with a cornes from a donor dog.
