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  Discussion on My TB Maggie has Squamous Cell Carcinoma around her eye
Author Message
Member:
jgordo03

Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 11:54 am:

During my annual vet visit yesterday the vet diagnosed my TB with SCC around her eye. It was caught very early and he feels that it can be treated with just a couple of injections of cisplatin or bleomycin (can't remember which one he said he would use) to do the trick. I was in shock and I feel so bad because I just thought it was a fungal infection and that he would give me a cream for it. I went in and read Dr Or’s article on Squamous Cell Carcinoma it was very helpful and put my mind at ease. This is the main reason why I stay a HA member.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 12:29 pm:

I'm so glad you took your mare in for a check-up! Best of luck with her.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, May 25, 2007 - 7:15 am:

Thanks Judi,
Early periocular SCC has a excellent prognosis with simple surgery in my personal experience.
DrO
New Member:
chrisz

Posted on Monday, Sep 3, 2007 - 8:28 pm:

My vet just told me my 22yo Appaloosa Gelding probably has an SCC in his eye. He said his experience with it on the 3rd eyelid has been that it has a good prognosis if removed, unfortunately, my horse's appears to be at the corner of the eye (where the tear duct is?) maybe in the conjunctiva? It is pretty small compared to some of the pictures I see online - less than the size of a pea. Would this be considered "caught early"? I see other posts where it says the prognosis would be excellent if caught early.

I am trying to decide if I should risk a surgery with general anesthesia at his age or just take my chances on how long it would be before it got too bad for him and he had to be put down. He is very healthy, rideable and a great companion, so my vet thinks that he could probably withstand the surgery, even if it goes deep and they had to take his eye.

I am trying to get a rough idea from the 2 vet hospitals in the next state (where I would have to take him) of how much it might cost, and how long a recovery period. Does anyone have any experience with this? How long is the recovery period if they can just remove the SCC? What if they have to remove the whole eye?

My home vet said the only thing he can recommend in the interim is putting a patch on his fly mask to block all light from getting to the SCC. The horse has no pain, no squinting, no itching. Any ideas on anything I could do to help keep it from growing larger until I can arrange a trip to the vet hospital?

Thank you so much for this great resource!
Member:
hwood

Posted on Monday, Sep 3, 2007 - 9:58 pm:

What kind of surgery?
I had a squamous cell carcinoma successfully lasered off of the prepuce of an Arabian gelding's sheath, albeit, a sheath is not an eye membrane.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 4, 2007 - 12:42 pm:

Welcome CarolinaChrisZ,
The prognosis for such a small lesion as you describe should be good to excellent but as to the best technique and prognosis it will depend on your veterinarians assessment of the lesion and skills.

From your description it does not sound like the eye will need removal but if you would like to read more about this often discusses procedure try a search on "enucleation".
DrO
New Member:
chrisz

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 4, 2007 - 10:54 pm:

Thank you Dr. O.

I s/w the vet today who might be treating my horse. He is recommending cryotherapy and knocking the horse out on a tilt table to be able to freeze the site 2 - 3 times to be sure he really gets it all. He seems to feel that my odds are good that we have caught this early. I hope so. I am more worried now about complications after the cryotherapy, like colic from the stress.

I will be able to spend the 1st few days after the cryo is done with my horse, but will have to go back to work after that. Has anyone else had cryo done on the eye? How soon will he be able to go back in the field (with his fly mask with a patch)? Will I have to put in DrOps or ointments several times a day, or do we just let it dry out and keep monitoring it for reoccurence?

I feel much better after speaking with the Vet. He feels very confident that even a 22 yo my App should do well and have many many years ahead. Please keep your fingers crossed for us!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 5, 2007 - 12:14 pm:

I don't know any reason the horse cannot be turned out immediately as long as the treatments and checks prescribed by your vet can be done.
DrO
New Member:
chrisz

Posted on Monday, Sep 17, 2007 - 9:53 pm:

Hi all. Okay - here's my update. My appt was today. Yesterday I was preparing my horse to load on the trailer (it is a 3 - 4 hr drive to a vet hospital around here so we DrOve up last night and stayed with some friends in the area). I hadn't seen him in about 2 days, so I took off his flymask (the one with patch) and got ready to put a clean one on for the trip. I checked his eye and - I swear to you - the "bump" had gone from lima bean size down to the size of a grain of rice. You could still see a red/raised area, and I could finally see it well enough to be sure it is on the 3rd eyelid, but overall it looked much much better. I thought about cancelling the vet appointment, but decided I had the time off, the appt, the trip all arranged, etc., at least I could get a second opinion if nothing else.

The vet and his staff were great to him, and he did really well. They were able to dope him up a bit and use some local pain medicine and did cryo x 3. The vet said that he had never heard of SCC reducing like that so wondered if maybe it might not have been SCC, but rather some sort of granular tissue from an infection or irritation. Either way he figured the cryo might prevent it from coming back. At least with him doped the vet was able to do a thorough eye exam and said his eyes look great for a 22 yo app, no signs right now of any hint of moon blindness, and the site of the "tumor" shows no evidence that it involves any deep tissue beyond the 3rd eyelid. He said if it comes back we could take that off if we need to.

I feel so much better and hopeful, but really wonder what on earth it could have been? I'm glad I had witnesses with me who saw it when it was bad or I bet he would think I was just some crazy hyper owner! LOL

He said he saw some "sulfur grains" in the area of the "lesion" but I am not sure what that would indicate?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 18, 2007 - 12:22 pm:

Sulfur granules is a description of small areas of inspisated (dry) puss intermixed in granulation tissue and usually associated with habronemiasis or some types of fungal infections. You will find more on habronemiasis by running a search on "habronema".
DrO
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