Distichia Surgery...Anyone Have Experience With This?

[laurendoodler]

I found out probably about a year ago that Delilah (she's 4 years old, if this matters) has distichia in both of her eyes. It's having eyelashes grow in the middle of her eyelid I guess and it rubs on the inside of her eye. I've been giving her eye drops, but she's not the greatest for allowing me to give them to her. She hates it. I take her to the vet every couple of months to get the eyelashes plucked because she'll sit still and let them do it. Apparently she's the only patient they have that sits till for it, LOL. Anyways. The vet said they're starting to get harder to pluck and there's more of them coming in.

She's been having issues with her eyes more lately, squinting a lot, rubbing them..so I know they're bothering her. She's had an ulcer before (that's what got her diagnosed in the first place, I took her 3 hours away to a canine ophthalmologist) and I don't want her to get one again.

So I was wondering if anyone had experience with their bulldog having this surgery? I guess they use a nitrogen laser type thing and freeze out the eyelashes. It worries me having anything by her eyes. And I guess it messes up the pigment by their eyes for a little while.

It's like $800. She JUST had ACL surgery and luxating patella surgery on her left leg at the beginning of this year. I'm still paying that off..and it's like $300. There's no payment options or anything where she has to go. I have to drive her 3 hours away to the Iowa State Veterinary Hospital. They can't do the surgery where I'm at..plus I'd rather her see the best anyways. I need to call and get it scheduled, I just hate leaving her there and I have to see how much I even have available on our care credit.

Any advice is appreciated. Or sharing of your stories with it. Thanks guys!

 

[Marine91]

I have not but i have tagged a member who I know just went through this with her baby.

 

[laurendoodler]

I have not but i have tagged a member who I know just went through this with her baby.

thanks very much!!! I just want to hear from people before I go through with this. I know I need to, I know she's in pain.

 

[Lisabear123]

[MENTION=1909]laurendoodler[/MENTION] Brie had the cryosurgery done in both her eyes. The lashes are very painful and cause ulcers quickly. Plucking them was not recommended by my vet due to the severity of hers and they usually always grow back. Brie's condition was severe so it was done immediately. We had any eye specialist do it. They kept her overnight for observation which I think was worse for me thn for her..lol Luckily, Brie didn't have any discoloration or surgery after math issues. She had to wear a cone for about 10 days to prevent rubbing etc. some eyelashes have region but so far are soft and not bothering her at all. The ophthalmologist said even they freeze the follicle and kill the hair, it is extremely common for them to grow back and require surgery again multiple times. Paws crossed that doesn't occur for any of us! We used an antibiotic drop to help healing and any inflammation as well as an over the counter human lubricating eye gel for comfort. The seem to adapt extremely well and if you have the opportunity to do the surgery. I highly recommend it. Like I said, those hairs are literally like little needles constantly poking the eyes. I'm not sure if any of this helps. If you have specific questions, just ask n I'll do my best to answer. It was amazing to see Brie's beautiful eyes open!

 

[ddnene]

Oh Lauren, I'm so sorry We just found out that Winston need Entropion surgery, and we are taking him to Nashville to see a specialist too! He has had several eye ulcer's and w/his allergies he's just a mess...

 

[Tplank]

Our bully had the distichia procedure along with entropion surgery this summer after her first birthday. She had been suffering from very bad tear stains since we got her and I'm happy to say the surgeries have helped. The downside is I can already see the lashes are growing back, so we will be doing the procedure again at our vets recommendation. Our girl is not a fan of the vet poking near her eyes, so she has to be put under . This is a pricey procedure, so I certainly feel your pain, but I can't imagine if I had to constantly feel lashes on my eyes. Our poor babies...

 

[Sandy]

Harper is 11 months and had the Distichia procedure last month. The vet had tried pulling the eyelashes and they came back, so he sent us to the eye specialist. Surgery was easy for him (besides an upset tummy from the meds) They didn't even give him a cone once he left that afternoon because he wasn't trying to get at his eyes. He did great and the dr said it doesn't appear they are coming back as of his recheck last week. On the other hand, his little eyes are still red and tearing which I had hoped that would help. I guess just allergies now - He is also terrible about the eye drops - I have to chase him all over the house.

 

[Petra]

Hi Lauren, sorry to hear your baby needs surgery My Boeboe also had eye lashes scratching her eye, in her case they called it Entropion. I'm not sure about the differences... but in Boeboe's case it was her eyelids that folded inward. She had surgery to open the eye up so the lashes would not scratch anymore, unfortunately she was a bit of a difficult case and she had to have 5 operations. I personally think that it was the vet who did the first operation that messed up and didn't do it properly (we had just moved and got recommended to go to this vet). I'm actually not sure she's completely fine still... she's going for a check up again in December, she doesn't scratch or anything and her eyes look fine but we'll see how it goes. Our vet (the old one we went back to) says that if she needs something done again they will burn the hair roots out. I'm not sure about the details since this was just loose talk when booking her appointment.

I'll attach a pic of what Boeboe looked like after she had healed up from the operations On this picture the stitches had just come out so you can still see the little holes, but they are all gone now Boeboe did really well during and after her ops and she didn't need to wear a cone at all. We just had to check her fur brother so he didn't lick her eye.



I don't know if this helps since this operation is different but maybe it makes you feel a little better that she's had ops done on her eyes and all went well

 

[laurendoodler]

[MENTION=7710]Petra[/MENTION] [MENTION=1124]Sandy[/MENTION] [MENTION=10208]Tplank[/MENTION] [MENTION=9157]ddnene[/MENTION] [MENTION=9236]Lisabear123[/MENTION]

thanks so much for sharing your experiences! I really appreciate it.
Knowing my luck, the dang eyelashes would grow back. :/ That's what I'm worried about!! I can't afford to do it more than once with it being $800 a piece. The leg surgery was $3,000 and that didn't even totally fix the leg because they messed up and didn't make the groove in her knee big enough to keep the patella in place. Ugh!

I just feel terrible for her. She's been squinting a lot more lately. I try to do her eye drops but she just throws a fit. She's an angel for the vets but not for me, lol. She goes rubbing on everything after I do the drops too which I know doesn't help.

When she had leg surgery she was hospitalized for about 4 days 3 hours away and I hated that! This would probably be one or two days.

 

[Petra]

Boeboe got to come home the same day in some of the cases. Our vet normally keep them over 1 night after operations like this one but we also live kind of far from our vet so they are sometimes making exception for us depending on how she feels after the operation. I honestly don't know what's best... I feel horrible seeing her off and sad after the op, but she must feel better being home? It's hard
.

 

[Lisabear123]

@Petra @Sandy @Tplank @ddnene @Lisabear123

thanks so much for sharing your experiences! I really appreciate it.
Knowing my luck, the dang eyelashes would grow back. :/ That's what I'm worried about!! I can't afford to do it more than once with it being $800 a piece. The leg surgery was $3,000 and that didn't even totally fix the leg because they messed up and didn't make the groove in her knee big enough to keep the patella in place. Ugh!

I just feel terrible for her. She's been squinting a lot more lately. I try to do her eye drops but she just throws a fit. She's an angel for the vets but not for me, lol. She goes rubbing on everything after I do the drops too which I know doesn't help.

When she had leg surgery she was hospitalized for about 4 days 3 hours away and I hated that! This would probably be one or two days.

I understand the financial issue too. We had just finished Brie's spay and palate procedures, she literally had just recovered n then bam...new medical issue. If you can manage it at all tho, please do the surgery as those hairs truly are very painful. And, yes the hairs can grow back..Brie had new hairs, but they are soft and not bothering her at all. I'm hoping it stays that way!

 

[laurendoodler]

[MENTION=7710]Petra[/MENTION] I hate leaving her because I know she's just sitting in a kennel confused I highly doubt they would let me take her home that day but I suppose I could ask. I understood them keeping her with the major leg surgery but I wouldn't think this would be as bad.
[MENTION=9236]Lisabear123[/MENTION] I plan on getting it done ASAP. Unfortunately my hours just got cut, right as I was planning on calling to schedule the surgery. I'm not happy

 

[Petra]

It wont hurt to ask... maybe they can find you an appointment that's early so Delilah have time to wake up nicely, perhaps then they'll let her go when they see all is fine. I'm not sure how it works at the vet but I somehow strongly doubt there is a vet staying over night with the animals... or is it normally? I feel they'll be better off at home as long as they're not at any risk.

Boeboe has had a few ops as you know and the only one she got sick after was her spay, and that is not an operation they keep them over night after. She wasn't badly sick, she just threw up a few times but I was a nervous wreak She came right quite quickly though and she got boiled rice and chicken for a couple of days so she was happy