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Brody's Eyes...Question & Help, Please!

5K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  mzilke 
#1 ·
Brody has had watery eyes for a couple of months, possibly 3 months now. I took him to the vet as soon as we noticed. The vet thought he might have a condition she called curled in eyelids, which could be causing his eyes to be what I think is excessively watery. There isn't a mucus discharge other than his eyes being watery.

Originally, the vet suggested that if Brody has curled in eyelids, he will most likely outgrow this as he gets older. She then provided an eyewash to help with any allergies, which didn't seem to do anything. So, after a week or two of using the eyewash as prescribed, there wasn't any change. So, I took him back to the vet, who then prescribed antibiotic eye drops to help him avoid infection and clear what appeared to redness irritation in his eyes. Still, no change in his condition...Ugh!

The phots were taken this morning. I'm reaching out to our site friends for suggestions on what could be causing this condition. In the photos below, his eyes appear to be causing him discomfort. He squints when sunlight is in his eyes, which may be causing him to squint in these photos. As you can see, the hair around his eyes is wetter than what I feel should be normal. I also have another vet appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning.

I should mention that we have lots of vegetation all around us in the Central Rocky Mountains. This may be an allergy issue??? Have any of you ever experienced this with your dogs? Thanks in advance for your input. I'll post an update after the vet visit tomorrow.
 

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#2 · (Edited)
Bottom pic looks like entropion.

This is the eye lids curling inside (rolling in against the eye).

He may outgrow it as his head grows and matures.

If there is damage to his eyes or concern, I would follow up with an ophthalmologist then.

But I would wait and see right now.

Ages ago when we had a dog with this issue, we would literally manually massage the skin on his face (very loose skin) to readjust the eyelids. By the time he was 3-4 years old, he really didn't have that problem anymore.
 

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#3 ·
Denver had one runny eye when he was a puppy. Our regular vet told us pretty early on to go see an ophthalmologist, because a primary vet can't usually diagnosis or treat eye issues. We took him in when he was around 4.5 months old and he had a surgery to open up an imperforate puncta on his lower eyelid when he was 6 months. The ophthalmologist also did a full eye exam at his follow up when he was 8 months and said everything looked perfect.

If I were you I would head to an ophthalmologist, if you think he is in discomfort. Your vet can usually refer you to one.

Best of luck!
 
#4 ·
I have no personal knowledge about distichiasis but I've seen it on OFA eye certs. According to
https://m.petmd.com/dog/conditions/eyes/c_dg_trichiasis_distichiasis_ectopic_cilia
it is common in Golden Retrievers. This article lists several eyelash/lid problems.
Someone I worked with had to have surgery on her lab puppy for an eyelash problem. I think it was an easy fix but they said it could recur. I'm not exactly sure which one her dog had.
 
#5 ·
Sounds and looks like entropion. It sometimes corrects as the head grows. I had a puppy once with entropion at 6 weeks. My vet consulted with an opthamalogist and put a staple in to prevent the lid from curling in. It can also be done with a loose stitch. This prevented damage to the eyes while giving the entropion time to correct. In his case, it corrected in about 3 weeks. I have seen this several times, and if it was going to self-correct, it did so by about 6 months of age or so.

Personally, I would take him to see an opthamalogist, sooner rather than later, just to make sure. I don’t like messing with eyes.

Also, if it is true entropion and not developmental entropion, his breeders should be notified as it is heritable.
 
#8 ·
Entropion

We have a rescue puppy that was diagnosed with entropion. We took him to the ophthalmologist who diagnosed it. He had ulcers on both eyes and was pulling his eyes in to get away from the irritation which made the eyelids roll in more. He also had bumps under his lids that was diagnosed as an allergy. The opthamologist placed staples on both eyes to stop them from rolling and replaced them every few weeks while he grew. She also had us wash his eyes out with eye wash every night to wash away allergens. The staple are out and his eyes are holding. We continue to wash his eyes out before bedtime every day and no more goopy eye drainage. We have a follow up appt this week with the ophthalmologist.
He had pretty bad ulcers and was in danger of losing his sight. He’s 11 months old now and we are very glad we took him to the ophthalmologist who knew what to do.
 
#9 ·
I'd see an ophthalmologist -http://www.acvo.org/ - you probably won't need a referral. The lid can have a stitch put in, and any distichia can be frozen off. I would be afraid to wait on his head to grow and why put him through months of discomfort?
 
#10 ·
Brody's eye update - post vet visit

Once, again, thanks all for your input and suggestions. Brody's vet visit was helpful. Our vet said his eyelids are curling a little and there aren't any signs of lacerations to his eyes, though we're going to watch carefully to avoid eye damage.

What she did notice was clearly his tears are draining excessively over his eyelids, thus staining his coat with a reddish color to his fur around his eyes. She then conducted a nasal passage test using eye strips that create a blacklight sensitive drainage to determine if his nasal passage is blocked. Both nostrils showed signs of drainage, though his right nostril showed some blockage. She prescribed steroidal eye drops to reduce swelling in his nasal passage to see if this clears the excessive tearing overflow around his eyes.

We discussed the surgical procedure and also stitching as a last resort. She didn't think allergies were causing the issue since he is such a young dog, but she didn't rule this possibility out entirely. Since his eyelids are only curling in a little, she still feels he will most likely grow through this condition as his head grows. The vet stated that getting the surgical or stitching procedure in a young dog can create other issues as the head grows, thus over-stretching the eyelids. She didn't recommend seeing an ophthalmologist just yet, though this too is still a possibility if she feels it becomes necessary.

Our vet wasn't overly concerned with his current condition. She encouraged using the drops and gently massaging his eyes to help pull the eyelids back around for the time being. I'm to call her in a week to provide an update after using the drops.
 
#11 ·
In addition to entropion, please have his ears/fungal inf & sinuses checked throughly. If entropion do not worry. Just with a small operation it can be resolved. Also think of conjunctivis. Not each time the eyes get reddish when we talk about conjunctivis & ulcer. In this case for both ears and conjunctivis& ulcer ( raw honey mixture solution I would opt holistic solutions. Forgot to add also allergies due to food . I do not know the condition of your boy but sometimes low immune system makes the body attack the eyes for which again there is solution. One of our rescued GR was in a dog hotel for a long time. The lawn was artificial lawn. However, just a week before departure , he moved into us. And his allergies started again since we have real lawn in the garden. At the moment, I am waiting for an update from his US rescue how his eyes are doing.
 
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