Normal healing after bad eye injury?

[moodysuzy]

I’ll preface this by saying that we are under the care of an excellent vet, but I wanted to throw this out here to get other people’s experiences.

Prawn suffered a severe eye injury in February courtesy of his cage mate. It required stitching the outer layer of his eye and his head back together and LOTS of eye drops, antibiotics and painkillers.

We managed to keep the eye, it was touch and go for a while, and although he’s quite blind in the eye now, it recovered well.

Over the past few weeks it’s been very gradually getting cloudier. It’s still nice and shiny, but definitely accumulating some slight cloudiness under the surface.

While I wait on the vet’s opinion. Does anyone know how eye injuries like this typically heal? Could this just be scar tissue forming as the eye is permanently damaged and barely functional? We’re just not sure if the ‘normal’ course for an injury like this.

I’ve added some dated photos, one from March when it was first healed and some from today.

Thanks!

 

[Bradshaw Piggies]

Hello,

So sorry to hear of your boys injury. One of mine had a retrobulbar abscess that led to acute damage. It went through all sorts of stages during the healing process. Our vets reassured us that the cloudiness was inflammation that would settle; as I was sure our boy would lose his sight at some point.

We had the same treatment as you, along with antibiotics for the abscess. We were almost at the point of enucleation when it started to heal up

So glad to hear you have a wonderful vet. Be sure to have a chat with them if you’re concerned that something more is going on with the eye

I’m no expert and I’ll sure lots of people on here will be along to advise

Hope your boy is feeling better soon

Our boy’s healing process:


His eye fully returned to normal about a month later:

 

[VickiA]

When was he last checked by the vet? Cloudiness is usually an indication of increased blood flow to the eye/ inflammation. Is it possible he’s injured the cornea (scratch or hay poke)? I would definitely ask the vet to re-check.

 

[Wiebke]

I’ll preface this by saying that we are under the care of an excellent vet, but I wanted to throw this out here to get other people’s experiences.

Prawn suffered a severe eye injury in February courtesy of his cage mate. It required stitching the outer layer of his eye and his head back together and LOTS of eye drops, antibiotics and painkillers.

We managed to keep the eye, it was touch and go for a while, and although he’s quite blind in the eye now, it recovered well.

Over the past few weeks it’s been very gradually getting cloudier. It’s still nice and shiny, but definitely accumulating some slight cloudiness under the surface.

While I wait on the vet’s opinion. Does anyone know how eye injuries like this typically heal? Could this just be scar tissue forming as the eye is permanently damaged and barely functional? We’re just not sure if the ‘normal’ course for an injury like this.

I’ve added some dated photos, one from March when it was first healed and some from today.

Thanks!

Hi

The cloudiness can happen in more serious eye infections in the latter stages of the healing process (remaining inflammation orinfection) but it usually clears again. If it doesn't get better within a few days to max a week of appearing, please contact your vet again. They may consider prescribing an oral antibiotic, depending on their own hands-on assessment.

If you haven't already had a lubricant like Remend etc. precscribed in addition to the medicated antibiotic eye drops/gel, order some plain carbomer based eye gel from online (widely available; viscotears is one of the brand names). The gel is easier to apply and longer lasting compared to plain tear fluid eye drops; I had it first given by a vet of mine. You have to always wait for at least half an hour after applying any medicated eye drops to allow them to be fully absorbed first. It will additionally help the healing process in the deeper layers but as it is a week now since you have had the cloudy eye, I would certainly contact the clinic again for a check-up.

All the best!

 

[moodysuzy]

When was he last checked by the vet? Cloudiness is usually an indication of increased blood flow to the eye/ inflammation. Is it possible he’s injured the cornea (scratch or hay poke)? I would definitely ask the vet to re-check.

It’s possible - but where the cloudiness is originating from is the the bit that looked most badly injured originally so I think it’s probably to do wig the injury.

He hasn’t been seen by the vet since March now, but we have an appointment next week and I’ve sent them pictures today so they assess and see him sooner if needed.

Thanks!

 

[moodysuzy]

Hi

The cloudiness can happen in more serious eye infections in the latter stages of the healing process (remaining inflammation orinfection) but it usually clears again. If it doesn't get better within a few days to max a week of appearing, please contact your vet again. They may consider prescribing an oral antibiotic, depending on their own hands-on assessment.

If you haven't already had a lubricant like Remend etc. precscribed in addition to the medicated antibiotic eye drops/gel, order some plain carbomer based eye gel from online (widely available; viscotears is one of the brand names). The gel is easier to apply and longer lasting compared to plain tear fluid eye drops; I had it first given by a vet of mine. You have to always wait for at least half an hour after applying any medicated eye drops to allow them to be fully absorbed first. It will additionally help the healing process in the deeper layers but as it is a week now since you have had the cloudy eye, I would certainly contact the clinic again for a check-up.

All the best!

Thanks, I’ve booked a preemptive appointment for next week and sent them pictures so they can assess it and see him sooner is needed.

We used Remend originally for a number of weeks, but stopped when the eye looked healed. If we’ve got some left I’ll start applying it again and order some more if not.

 

[moodysuzy]

Hi

The cloudiness can happen in more serious eye infections in the latter stages of the healing process (remaining inflammation orinfection) but it usually clears again. If it doesn't get better within a few days to max a week of appearing, please contact your vet again. They may consider prescribing an oral antibiotic, depending on their own hands-on assessment.

If you haven't already had a lubricant like Remend etc. precscribed in addition to the medicated antibiotic eye drops/gel, order some plain carbomer based eye gel from online (widely available; viscotears is one of the brand names). The gel is easier to apply and longer lasting compared to plain tear fluid eye drops; I had it first given by a vet of mine. You have to always wait for at least half an hour after applying any medicated eye drops to allow them to be fully absorbed first. It will additionally help the healing process in the deeper layers but as it is a week now since you have had the cloudy eye, I would certainly contact the clinic again for a check-up.

All the best!

Just in case you were interested in an update - the vet said that the cloudiness is a cataract caused by the original trauma and nothing to worry about. He’s just blind as a bat in that eye thanks for your help

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you for the update.

Sight is the weakest sense in guinea pigs (it is the strongest in humans), so losing it is not quite as devastating as it is for us since it is much easier for piggies to compensate with their stronger senses to live a perfectly normal life.