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  Discussion on Posterior Uveitis
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Posted on Tuesday, Oct 17, 2000 - 5:52 pm:

I have a 14 year-old thoroughbred gelding that was just diagnosed with posterior uveitis. The only symptoms were an increase in spookiness at jumps. I would like to know how this differs from recurrent anterior uveitis, if at all. He is on low dosage oral pred with it being tapered off over the next 2 weeks. I intend to have regular eye checkups now, but what should I expect the prognosis to be?

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 18, 2000 - 8:11 am:

Hello Julie,
It depends on the cause of the inflammation Julie. Though you see the term anterior uveitis as a synonym for the autoimmune disorder frequently caused by Lepto it is a poor use of the term. I much prefer the term recurrent uveitis for this disease. I do include it in the title though since it is frequently used.

Uveitis simply means inflammation. Anterior and posterior gives us a general idea of where in the eye the inflammation is occuring. It does not tell us what is causing the inflammation and that is really what determines the prognosis. Can you describe the clinical signs, lesions present including their size, and conjectured cause?
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Oct 19, 2000 - 8:14 am:

Thanks, Dr. Oglesby for answering my post. My horse had uveitis once before about 6 months ago. It was only in the right eye. His symptoms were photophobia, tearing and a half-shut eye. Since I have chronic iritis in my right eye, I suspected what the problem might be and called the vet right away. He cleaned some trash out of the 3rd eyelid, which he said might have part of the problem and gave me an antibiotic ointment with a little cortisone in it. The horse responded right away to the treatment and when that ointment was gone, I continued with an ointment that just had antibiotic in it. I have kept a close watch on the eye, knowing that it could reoccur. The horse has worn a fly mask since that incident and the eye showed no tearing, light sensitivity, etc. At the last horse show, he was spooking badly at the jumps, which was really out of character for him. That is when I called the vet. Both vets that have looked at the eye have said the same thing. The eye has "a previous injury", but I don't know on what part of the eye it is on, or how old it is, or what caused it. The vet will re-examine the horse early next week and I will ask alot of questions. BTW, the vet that did the pre-purchase on the horse did not indicate a problem. I have owned the horse since May of 99.
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