[mikecrush]

Cinder came down with glaucoma about two months ago. Turned out she has been blind in the one eye and we didn't even know it. The pressure is getting worse in the bad eye (luckily it is doing really well in the good one). We did laser surgery on it and it didn't have any effect on the pressure.The doctor is giving me an option of doing the surgery again with a 50% chance of success (my feeling is if it didn't take the first time the chances are real bad for a second). The eye vet we are going to is recommending either having it removed or have a prosthetic put in. Wanted to hear from some of you on your opinions.

[ July 05, 2005, 04:41 PM: Message edited by: mikecrush ]

 

[Betsy Iole]

Laser surgery doesn't have a good track record in bassets. If another of my rescue bassets develops glaucoma, I'd probably forego the laser surgery entirely and just have the eye removed.

The prosthesis is purely for cosmetic appearances; otherwise the eyelid will be sutured closed. Your vet can fill you in on the pros and cons offered by each of these options.

 

[dean wickwire]

Another option we used on Elmer Phudd, was an operation developed my my vet at that time, He blocked all fluid going into the eye and then injected silicone rubber into he eye, The eye shrank from no fluid till it hit the silicone. Elmer's eyes were normal size, but turned a gray color-- looked like a dirty pingpong ball. He would turn to look at you and he was the zombie hound. Worked fine for him, no more pain,cheaper than glass eye, and looked better than no eye.

 

[Anonymous]

Laser surgery on Nellie's eyes was a waste of $. As Betsy said, the chances of success are slim. I had her eye removed. Who cares what it looks like when THEY can't look?! So sorry to hear of another Basset with glaucoma. Hope all turns out well. Take care, Belinda.

 

[cheryl]

We went through the same thing in January of 2005 with "Angel." She also had glaucoma. After her pressure became too high, we decided to get an enucleation (removal of the eye) done by an eye specialist. We then had her bad eye removed with a prosthesis. It is a ball that they put in the eye socket, then they stitch up the eye and it just looks like the eye is closed. It is not a fake eye that you can see. Unfortunately, a month later, she developed a cyst on top of the bad eye. The first surgery cost $1,500.00 and they said they would remove the cyst for about $800.00. I decided to have my "regular" vet remove the cyst for $400.00 in March, 2005 and my regular vet found a plastic stitch which was left inside her eye from the eye specialist. I was furiated and very upset about this. But overall, Angel did very well with the surgery. The good eye had glaucoma too, but we were able to keep the pressures under control. I do recommend this surgery to a dog who has a high pressure reading of glaucoma. Dogs handle things a lot better than most humans. I think I was more upset than she was.

I'm sorry to say though that we did lose our Angel in June, 2005 due to anemia/red blood cell loss, a mass in her stomach, and would not eat, while on steroids, for 9 days. I think she had finally given up.

I wish you good luck with Cinder and the eye surgery. Please talk with your vet and find out any side effects and to not leave any plastic stitches inside the eye.

I will keep you in my prayers.

Cheryl

 

[Anonymous]

Hello! Francis also has glaucoma and it developed so rapidly and the pressures were so high that we decided to forego the laser and just remove his right eye. We went for the prosthesis and it looks wonderful. It's slightly lighter than his real eye but people never notice although eventually people sometimes ask if he's got cataracts. We have a veterinary ophthalmologist whose judgement I trust implicitly and he said that the prosthesis was the best way to go and he's been right. Good Luck! and we'll be thinking of you.