Eye Injuries 101
Part
II of a series on equine eye care.
by Tracy Williams
|
It
begins like any other morning: you slug back a cup of coffee,
then quickly dash to the barn for a morning feeding before
rushing to the office. However, normal rush rapidly shifts
to panic when you are confronted by your horse’s half-closed
eye, dripping with fluid and gunk. A closer inspection reveals
a tiny gray spot amid the fluid and cloudiness. Although
it may not seem like a serious wound, don’t be fooled;
every eye injury has the potential to blind your horse.
Whether it is your pasture pony or competitive champion,
immediate action needs to be taken, or your horse could
lose his sight.
|
If your horse’s eye is swollen and oozing tears and
discharge, immediately contact your veterinarian for help. |
In this accident-prone species, eye injuries are a common
problem; horses can poke their eyes with everything from
broken fence shards to thorns to a stalky piece of hay.
Whatever the cause, eye injuries require immediate attention
because they can rapidly deteriorate; waiting even a few
hours can compromise healing and future vision. If your
horse’s eye is swollen, awash with tears and discharge,
reddened, or has a white/blue tinge to the cornea, seek
help immediately.
|
The
Anatomy of a Wound
The eyeball is covered with a transparent sheet of tissue
called the cornea, which has several layers. The outer thin
lining of epithelium acts as a protective barrier for the
sensitive inner eye tissues. If this outer layer is breached,
the barrier is destroyed, and the inner layers may become
damaged as well.Eye wounds are relatively small, and anywhere
else on the body they would probably heal without issue. But
on the eye, they become complicated. |
Although this injury appears as only a tiny gray spot on the
eye, any wound has the potential to rob your horse of vision. |
A normal equine eye has a wide range of bacteria and fungi
living on its surface; it is not a sterile organ. Any one
of these populations could infect the wound, potentially robbing
your horse of his vision and future career. This risk of infection
warrants timely treatment; generally, the “golden period”
is six hours after injury. Although all is not lost beyond
this point, this window gives you the best chance of full
recovery. Prognosis for these injuries is dependent on the
degree of damage and contamination but also how quickly the
wound is caught and how aggressively it is treated.
Initial Response
Your first step when you discover an eye injury is to call
your veterinarian; the longer you wait the higher the risk
of infection and permanent vision loss. Next, move your horse
to a stall. A darkened stall protects your horse from painful
sunlight, bugs and wind-blown contaminants affecting the sensitive
eye wound. Make sure the stall is clean, and try to avoid
dusty bedding or feed stuffs to keep the eye as clean as possible.
Until the veterinarian arrives, stay with your horse; if he
rubs his painful eye he could irritate the wound and create
irreversible damage. |
|
Initial Treatment
When your veterinarian arrives, he or she will probably
flush the wounded eye with saline to cleanse it and apply
Fluorescein, an orange stain that attaches to abraded tissue
and dyes it fluorescent green, revealing the extent of the
injury. Unfortunately, the stain is only effective with
injuries less than 24 hours old because it only attaches
to fresh abraded tissue.
The primary goals in treating eye injuries are preventing
infection, reducing inflammation and keeping the pupil dilated.
To accomplish these aims, your veterinarian will probably
prescribe several topical solutions.
Triple antibiotic
With all the bacteria and fungi living on the eye’s
surface, your primary goal is guarding against an infection.
Therefore, a triple antibiotic is vital and often needs
to be applied every two hours for at least the first 24
hours, and treatment may continue at a reduced rate for
weeks. An anti-fungal is also an option, especially in hot,
humid climates where fungi thrive.
|
Blood
serum helps to preserve the eye by preventing destructive
enzymes from eroding eye tissues. |
Blood
serum
When the body is wounded, it reacts by sending in a team
of white blood cells; these cells produce enzymes called
collagenases that can destroy eye tissues and worsen the
ulcer. Bacteria and fungi infecting the wound can also produce
destructive enzymes – blood serum intervenes. Blood
contains globulins that act as anti-collagenases –
they counteract the enzymes to protect and soothe the eye.
Once your veterinarian draws a few vials of your horse’s
blood, place them in the refrigerator until the golden serum
rises to the surface. At treatment time, draw a little into
a syringe and apply it on the eyeball before other medications
– or according to your veterinarian’s recommendations.
|
|
Atropine
Opthalmic
Atropine accomplishes the next goal of treatment –
dilation of the pupil. In eye injuries, often the pupil
can shrink, preventing vision, and in some cases, it won’t
dilate again after healing. Thus, keeping the pupil dilated
is vital to future sight. In addition, atropine also strengthens
the blood vessels growing into the wound, preventing them
from leaking protein.
Flunixin
Meglumine
Flunixin meglumine, better known as Banamine, is an anti-inflammatory,
which you will generally administer every 12 hours to alleviate
pain and swelling. Consider giving it orally instead of
intramuscularly if you will be giving it for an extended
period of time. This method is just as effective, and it
will prevent muscle damage as well as keep you from having
to give your horse shots twice a day for an extended period.
|
After 24 to 48 hours, you should begin to see improvements
in the injury, but continue to apply medications as directed
by your veterinarian. |
You
should start to see improvements within 24 to 48 hours;swelling
should go
down, and your horse should start to hold his eye open.
Even with evident improvement, diligently apply medications
because eye injuries can rapidly deteriorate and often take
extensive time to fully heal. If the injury worsens over
time, contact your veterinarian immediately for more aggressive
treatment options. |
An
Ounce of Prevention |
 |
Horses
are ingenious at finding trouble, so they don’t
need any help from you. You can prevent many injuries
by just following some simple guidelines.
1. Comb your barn, pastures and fences for rough, sharp
or broken objects and eliminate them.
2. Consider feeding hay at ground level to keep dust
in the eyes at a minimum.
3. Keep flysprays and other products away from the eyes
at all times.
4. Use flymasks.
5. And, above all, make sure you are examining your
horse’s eyes daily for signs of trauma. Even in
an immaculate barn, a horse can find a way to injure
himself. |
|
Tracy
Williams is a graduate of Colorado State University
with degrees in Equine Science and Journalism. She
is a freelance writer and photographer living in New
Mexico. |
 |
|
|
|
