I’ve talked about Ares’s battle with demodectic mange and how he’s been living with that. But he didn’t earn the nickname “the genetic bomb” just for that. Ares has several other medical issues and one of them is known as Cherry Eye.
Last summer Ares and Chaos were still attending daycare and one day he came home with this pinkish sort of bubble in the corner of his eye. I called the vet and scheduled an appointment. But then the next day it was gone so I called back and cancelled. And then it was back again a few days later. This continued off and on for several weeks and the vet had told me to call back and make an appointment if the bubble stuck around for a whole week.
Meanwhile I took to the internet to find out what this little pink bubble with the disappearing act could be. I googled it and sure enough several hits came up with pictures and I quickly learned it was what is known as Cherry Eye, or the technical definition, prolapse of the third eyelid gland. I didn’t even know dogs had 3 eyelids, let alone that essentially one could move out of place. Luckily it doesn’t really cause the dog any pain but because the gland is out of place, the eye may not be properly lubricated and there can be irritation.
This condition is fairly common in several breeds and wouldn’t you know it, Boston Terriers are on that list. Dogs with brachycephalic faces (short, flat face & wide head) are more often predisposed to develop Cherry Eye and even more so if the dog is under the age of 2. The condition is believed to be caused by connective tissue weakness in the ligaments that hold the gland in place, which is probably genetic. Basically the third eyelid flips over and the result is a protruding little red bump in the corner of the eye like looks like a cherry, hence the common name Cherry Eye. Sound pretty gross? Well, it gets worse.
When Chris took Ares to get his yearly shots in the fall I told him to ask the vet if there was anything else we could do if he did happen to have a “cherry” that day. The vet’s office we use has several vets that practice there and the vet Chris and Ares saw that day was one we had never seen before. He told Chris it was not Cherry Eye but instead just prolapse of the third eyelid and nothing to worry about. When I got home later that day and Chris told me this I was very confused. In all my research I had done the very definition of Cherry Eye WAS prolapse of the third eyelid. Instead of calling the vet’s office and complaining about one vet that we would never have to see again, I decided to be productive instead and called another vet’s office in our area. I was able to schedule an appointment for the upcoming weekend to get a second opinion. It was a good thing too because the next day that cherry was present and looking pretty angry. It was very red and swollen and some kind of icky goo was coming out. Glad I shared this aren’t you?
The second opinion confirmed that mommy was correct with the Cherry Eye, or prolapse of the third eyelid diagnosis. And because the gland had popped in and out so many times it had become irritated, inflamed and infected. We were given topical antibiotic ointment and anti-inflammatories to help calm everything down and ease Ares’s discomfort. This vet also confirmed that although Cherry Eye is common and not something to be stressed over, it’s it something to take seriously. If a prolapsed gland is left untreated it can lead to more serious infections, chronic dry eye from lack of sufficient lubrication to the eye as well as severe ocular damage. The gland and eyelid in the proper placement help to protect the eye from environmental damage and the dog may even cause damage to himself attempting to scratch or rub the irritated eye.
I read about having the gland surgically removed completely or having it repositioned back into its original placement in the eye. I was initially horrified at having it completely removed, which is the older school of thought, so I focused my research on the new methods of repositioning. Ares’s gland continued to pop in and out so surgery wasn’t an option yet, I just wanted to know everything about it. I spoke with the vet about this and she told me each vet may have a different preference or may only perform one type of technique so we would need to decide which option we thought would be best and then find out which vets would offer that procedure. The only problem with moving ahead with surgery was that Ares’s Cherry Eye was a bit unique in that some days it was there and some days it wasn’t. We were sent home with the medications and told if it stayed out for a week, then to go ahead and schedule surgery.
Ares hated the topical antibiotic ointment. It was a pain in the butt to put it in twice a day because he would fight us every time. There was an applicator on the end of the tube but we were afraid to poke his eye with him thrashing around so sometimes we just had to squeeze and hope it went it. The infection cleared quickly along with the angry irritation but the cherry did finally stay out for a whole week. We had decided to go with a repositioning technique as opposed to removal of the gland so I called our regular vet’s office and was happy to learn one of our favorite vets would do the procedure.
It was pretty easy to pick which surgical option we felt would be best. Removal of the gland generally results in chronic dry eye as the tear duct is no longer there to produce lubrication. Expensive eye drops have to be given daily for the remainder of the dog’s life. The repositioning techniques are still new and sometimes the gland does prolapse again later on in the dog’s life which would require another surgery. The latter still seemed like the better option. Of course we’d do it if we had to but couldn’t imagine forcing drops into Ares’s eye every day for the rest of his life.
Ares had his surgery a few weeks after Christmas and recovered quickly. He was back to his wild and crazy self the very next day, even though he was supposed to be resting. You wouldn’t know he ever had a cherry eye by looking at him but the imagine is still pretty clear in my head. Yuck. It never seemed to bother Ares though. He thinks he’s always looks good, cherry eye or not. Just ask him.
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