Watery Eyes - Cause: Internal Eye lash! Anyone else see this?

KristinMarie

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Jul 30, 2011
65
3
Bellevue, WA
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Rocco
Hi - I was just responding to another thread about treating watery eyes with Benadryl. I responded that I dont' recommend treating a chronic condition like watery eyes without your vet's guidance. Benadryl shud be used for more acute allergies.

Anyway-I wanted to ask this forum if anyone else has watery eye issues caused by an internal eye-lash. On my last checkup with the vet - we found that Rocco has 1 tiny internal eyelash (found on his upper lid, internal rim - I saw this for myself using my vet's special magnifying eye gear). It is short, but quite thick in diameter (looked like the hair that grows on his body). They said this can cause eye injury if not removed. They want to wait another few months to make sure no other eye lashes grown in - and then we are to schedule surgery.

Of course - I hate to have surgery - but I also hate to think of the pain and discomfort the eye is causing.

Anyone else have this problem or experience with this?
 

Bono bully

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Aug 19, 2011
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Zagreb
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Unfortunately we have this problem. Bono has had 2 surgery's on his eyes removing internal eyelashes. But some of them can be removed without surgery, your oftamologist can remove it with tweezers if they are not too deep inside, with time you can even do it yourself, because they will probably keep growing. :-( But there is a metod that can solve this permanently...something with cold nitrogen...but we don't have the needed equipment in my country, so my vet advised we go to Slovenia or Austria...But for the time beeing every now and then when Bono's eyes start to be watery and he starts to squint, we go to the vet to look at his eyes and remove the eyelashes with tweezers if I can not do it, and then for a few days it is neccesary to put some eyedrops or creme into to eyes to ease the discomfort ( tobrex or cloramphenicol - don't know if you have those in your country...) So sorry you have this problem also, hope everything is going to be ok with your bully! :-)
 
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KristinMarie

KristinMarie

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Jul 30, 2011
65
3
Bellevue, WA
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Rocco
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Unfortunately we have this problem. Bono has had 2 surgery's on his eyes removing internal eyelashes. But some of them can be removed without surgery, your oftamologist can remove it with tweezers if they are not too deep inside, with time you can even do it yourself, because they will probably keep growing. :-( But there is a metod that can solve this permanently...something with cold nitrogen...but we don't have the needed equipment in my country, so my vet advised we go to Slovenia or Austria...But for the time beeing every now and then when Bono's eyes start to be watery and he starts to squint, we go to the vet to look at his eyes and remove the eyelashes with tweezers if I can not do it, and then for a few days it is neccesary to put some eyedrops or creme into to eyes to ease the discomfort ( tobrex or cloramphenicol - don't know if you have those in your country...) So sorry you have this problem also, hope everything is going to be ok with your bully! :-)

Thank you so much JakeisGreat! this is very helpful. I would much prefer to remove them with tweezers than have him go under surgery. The only surgery he has had was when he was neutered and they fixed his umbilical hernia. He had a terrible allergic reaction to this anesthesia so I would love to not put my poor Rocco through that again. I will do some more research and keep you posted on his progress. I'm surprised this hasn't come up more on this Forum - since I do see lots of comments about watery eyes on here. I think most folks assume it is related to allergies - but it is good to pass along the info to our community that it could be a physical issue with the eyelash growing inside the eye.
 

bullmama

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[MENTION=572]Libra926[/MENTION] has Orions one lash plucked I think!
 

JeannieCO

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Mar 11, 2011
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You know I'm getting close to taking Wilson in to have his watery eyes checked soon. Nothing I do will help his contact watering. He's been allergy tested so I know it's not the food he's on, well at least I think it's not a food issue. And I don't believe it's anything in the house. He's been pretty consistent for 8 months now. He goes in for a the nip nip on February 1st so I may wait until then. Just not sure yet. I have tried Benadryl and it does not do anything to help.

:confused:
 
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KristinMarie

KristinMarie

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Jul 30, 2011
65
3
Bellevue, WA
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Rocco
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Next time you visit your vet - have them look for the inside eyelash issue. It is pretty easy to spot. If you are going to do any bloodwork or prep for surgery - you might want to have them do this while he is under.

Although it appears you can get these pulled out without going under - see Bono's message in this thread.

I would so much rather find a specific root cause than just treat symptoms with drugs - and never actually fix the problem. Let's pass this message along to all the other bulldog owners here!
K
 

Vicaroo1000

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Sherry

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My vet mentioned too that because of the way EBs are built, the edge of the eye can turn inward which make the eye water. So it's not even a lash that's doing the irritation (so cannot be removed) but just the way the droopy skin is around the eye.

http://petdogy.com/petdoghealthcare/pet-dog-eye-problems-entropion/


Dolly had the eyelashes removed while she was under for her spay last spring, from our old vet.
Last month, Our new vet gave us an eye cream with steroid in it, and told me to flush her eyes weekly with eye saline. This will keep the gunk from building up and turning her lower eyelid in. She said that this type of surgery should be avoided at all costs, as she believes it's not necessary.
 
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KristinMarie

KristinMarie

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Jul 30, 2011
65
3
Bellevue, WA
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Rocco
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Thanks so much for all the replies. Of course anything I can do to avoid surgery I would do first. I'm going to talk to my vet next time I go in (which should be any day now - since it seems something new requiring vet attention crops up every 4 to 6 weeks lol!).

Thanks everyone - and keep me posted if any of you have had success with removing the internal eyelash without surgery.
 

JeannieCO

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[FONT=Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif][MENTION=2913]KristinMarie[/MENTION], Thanks for the tip. Wilson will be having his bloodwork done a couple days before his neuter. [/FONT]
 

Georgiadog

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Nov 22, 2011
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My Georgia just had an internal eyelash removed, on Friday, which caused an ulcer (scratch) on her cornea. At first we thought it was an allergy issue as the scratch & inner eyelash weren't apparent during the vet's initial exam earlier in the week - her eye was just incredibly 'watery' (always has been) but the surrounding skin was getting red/irritated and itchy and she was not fully opening that eye. She gave us an antibiotic/steroid ointment and then, once realizing there was a scratch, we switched to a full antibiotic ointment (the steroid prevents healing). So far, she seems to be improving.

Our vet, who tends to be pretty conservative, removed the eyelash using special optic glasses and tweezers. She suggested we wait and see if the hair grows back. If so, she will likely try to remove again with tweezers, if continues to come back, we will have surgically removed.
 

JeannieCO

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Mar 11, 2011
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I did call my vet and ask them to check for that when Wilson gets neutered on Feb. 1st. As I mentioned, he's been a fountain since I brought him home at 8 weeks (he's 11 months today). What I have been noticing the last several weeks is that when he wakes in the morning he's 100% dry. As soon as he gets moving around it's watery eyes as normal. I'm hoping this is what's causing his issue. He's so healthy otherwise. I'll keep you updated.
 

Einstein the Great

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Jun 14, 2011
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Fort Wayne, IN
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Einstein
Einstein just had the entropion surgery today bc his lower lids would roll and rub on his eye. We've been trying to battle this without surgery but he developed a small ulcer on his right eye so the vet thought it was important to do surgery asap. Good luck....sorry I'm not much help.
 

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