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A prolapsed gland third eyelid repair was performed on my , at the time, 10 month old female English Pointer. The swelling has not gone down as was stated. I took her back to the clinic where she was then diagnosed as having cartilage in her eye. I am not clear as to what this is and the vet was very vague as to the cause. He stated that this just happens and was in no way related to the operation. I find this hardmto believe that it would just occur. Can you give me an answer as to why this occured? How much of a surgical procedure is it to remove this cartilage and will the redness disappear?
I'm not sure what they mean by "cartilage" in the eye, either. Did she have a corneal ulcer when you went back, - did the eye take up some of the fluoroscein stain?
I think you should call back and ask:
Where did the cartilage come from? Is it cartilage from the third eyelid? Or somewhere else?
Where on the eye is the problem - on the cornea?
Does the cornea have an ulcer now?
How did they repair the third eyelid gland prolapse; with a suture or removal of the gland?
What do they plan to do to remove the cartilage?
If I understand you right the eye is red and swollen. Is there any way you can take a picture of the eye and download it so I can see it?
Dr. Debbie
Veterinarian
Full time practicing companion animal veterinarian.
I will need to talk to the vet and will be back to you in the near future.
Sure. I'll check in on the questions later today and tonight. When you talk to him ask him if there is a medical term for what he is describing about the cartilage in the eye.
I just got off of the phone with the vet that performed the surgery on my dog. He stated that the cartilage was from the third eyelid. His explanation as to why it occured has something to do with different growth rates of the subject cartilage. Very vague to say the least. There is not a problem with the cornea but a small ulcer, similar to her original "cherry eye", has developed because of the cartlage pushing up. He still maintains that this condition has nothing to do with the original operation although he consulted a textbook to see what this cartlage was. Needless to say, I am extremely dissapointed with his services. I hope you can give me some ammunition to back up my theory that he is inept.
I'm not buying into all this, either, but maybe I'm just not understanding what he is trying to explain. One thing that happens with cherry eye repair sometimes is that you place a suture inside the eye to keep the third eyelid gland intact and it can rub on the cornea and make an ulcer. An ulcer is a scratch on the cornea. You pick this up by staining the bright green stain, flouroscein stain, on the eye and if it picks up the green color there is a scratch or an ulcer (the same thing). The third eyelid (or nictitating membrane - medical term) has a T shaped cartilage at the edge of it. I have never heard of the cartilage causing an ulcer, unless there was a stitch in it. Granted, I have been in practice only 7 years but I have never heard of this and can't find anything related to it in an ophtho book. That's why I was hoping for a medical term to look it up. The only cartilage in the eye is the one on the edge of the third eyelid gland. That is where the surgery took place. The third eyelid and it's cartilage touch the eye naturally and never causes an ulcer. I'm perplexed as to what's going on.
Have a look at these websites to see the anatomy and the procedure and maybe that will help you to visualize what's been done.
http://ttlntl.co.uk/3/Anatomy/eye.htm
http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/ce.html
If you have more questions, let me know.