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Discussion on Swollen Eyelids
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New Member:
gehdi
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Posted on Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 - 10:19 am:
I have a 3 yr old horse that has swelling of the upper and lower left eyelid. I do not see any underlying redness of the sclera or white of the eye. There is minimal watering and no pus, etc. The past several days when removing her fly mask the eye was watering. I have kept my horses [4] in the paddock the past week due to treating my two geldings for PHF [all are vaccinated and vetted regularly] Last evening I turned them out for about two hours [without masks] and noticed the swelling on returning them to the paddock.
My Vet is away for the next three days for CE... I have wiped the eye with water to remove dust/dirt and put a fly mask on...
Looking for advice on what to do until Vet can check her... I do have Banamine and Doxycycline 100mg available. Neosporin ointment? Some type of EyeDrOps Eyewash? Any advice will be most appreciated.
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 - 12:11 pm:
Personally, I would try to get the horse seen by a Veterinarian somehow.
The eye needs to be stained and examined professionally in my opinion but hopefully Dr. O will address your problem soon.
Do NOT put any ointment into the eye that contains any kind of steroid, as this could potentially cause blindness if there is any ulceration or scratch on the cornea.
Flushing with a saline eye wash should not cause a problem and might help.
It is possible there is a grass seed or something imbedded in the eye. Or perhaps some strong fly spray or some other irritant got into only this eye causing a reaction, but one would think the eye should have improved by now in that case.
You need to rule out the possibility of trauma, scratch or ulceration.
In my experience with eye problems, Banamine is typically prescribed to reduce inflammation and manage pain.
It is important to prevent the horse from rubbing the eye if it becomes uncomfortable.
With an eye, it is not good to have a condition such as this (swelling) persisting for several days.
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Member:
zarr
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Posted on Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 - 2:17 pm:
We go thru this every year.I have one guy who can't wear a mask.He rubs his jaw raw where the strap goes and rubs his eyes on everything and looks like he has gone several rounds in the ring.The saline wash helps we have terrible flys this year even the mustang has had trouble time.My vet came out the first few times and it does calm the worries! Get him out just in case.
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 - 3:11 pm:
Cindy,
With just one eye involved for Ronald's horse it is more worrisome to me than if both eyes were having the swelling and draining as one of my horses gets bad fly irritation too.
The horse could also have a blocked tear duct with that eye, in which case the Veterinarian clearing it by irrigating is a good idea.
The flies have been horrid here every season this past year and the masks do help though I tend not to put them on when there is rain in the forecast because then some of the horses seem to roll and get sand rubbed into their eyeballs even worse than otherwise.
Are you leaving two fingers of space under your fly mask strap for comfort? By doing this and keeping my masks brushed clean daily plus washed once weekly I have had no irritation on any of the horses from the masks.
Sometimes too, it is necessary to clean under the horses' eyes before putting the masts on, because if they get sticky drainage under them that is pretty itchy, resulting in rubbing. Sweaty faces can cause the rubbing too. Lately if my most sensitive boy is not wearing a mask on a particular day I've been cleaning his face with MTG (the bugs don't like that much) and then spreading some Desitin over it to sooth, heal and protect.
Flies never used to be this bad here!
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 - 4:05 pm:
Hi Ronald, my old girl had PHF quite a few years ago. What a nasty disease, hope your horses got through it OK. I don't know if the one with the swollen eye had the PHF, but my mare got one at the very beginning of the PHF. I don't know if it was related to the PHF or not, but it looked like someone had punched her in the eye it was so swollen(just one). The rest of her eye looked fine, it was just the lids. 4 times a day I would hold a very cold wet rag over her eye, which she seemed to enjoy and in 2 days it was gone. She was also on banamine due to the PHF.
Could you try cold compresses a couple times a day until your vet can see her. If nothing else they seem to think it feels VERY good I did keep her mask on between compresses.
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Member:
zarr
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Posted on Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 - 6:04 pm:
Vickie, I hate this Year of the Bugs they are terrible! Yes to all fittings four horses and only the one can't cope? The vet has used the green glowing stuff to check tear ducts nope its bugs.One got my husbands eye and he looked just like the horse.I have stock in avon for the summer,.Plus Tri Tech and for good measure swat( not the pink stuff)and a roll-on used for trail riding. We are all toxic waste dumps this year! and still being eaten to shreds plus west nile just showed up last week! I'm re-thinking my love of winter!!!
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 - 10:17 pm:
Cindy,
The flies were just as bad here all winter as this summer.
And now it is so hot that the fly spray sweats off, not that it kept the flies out of the eyes anyway. The masks worked the best.
I am lucky that my guy with the touchiest eyes is maintaining pretty well.
He showed a big improvement with his chronically runny eyes after a potent course of antibiotics for treatment of cellulitis to his pastern/tendon sheath, so perhaps sometimes these fly problems turn into low grade infections.
My Vet kept telling me for nearly a year that it was a fly allergy without treating the problem (both eyes runny), but the antibiotics worked to clear him of about a year of chronically draining eyes.
This is the same boy who has had a clogged tear duct the prior year.
One of mine is allergic to citronella in any form, and also to the Avon products.
They are all different -- trial and error.
I hope, Ronald, that your horse's eye gets better soon. The continuing swelling is cause for concern but I guess how much may be determined by the level of discomfort of your horse.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Jul 26, 2009 - 9:52 am:
Hello Ronald,
Swelling of the lids alone is not terrible, often traumatic, and NSAID's like flunixin (Banamine) may be very helpful. On the other hand disease of the eyes of horses can be a very serious problem that should be seen by a veterinarian quickly and before treatment is instituted.
If uncertainty exists you should get a veterinarian out to carefully examine the eye.
DrO
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