General Question Cherry Eye Advice

[Iross1981]

Our 7 month old pup Jenny had a case of the cherry eye and we were super hesitant to do anything in terms of surgical correction before really looking into it first. I spoke with a couple different eb rescues and there seemed to be a unanimous consensus in favor of getting the eye tacked. We called around to a few vets to find out who may have had experience with this surgery on eb's etc. and found a vet who said he had done many of these before and had a better than average success rate because he tacked the gland in two places or whatever. In any event, she went in for the surgery (she was also being spayed while under anesthesia) and did just fine aside from a bruised ego stemming from the ginormous Elizabethan collar and some moderate discomfort that the pain meds didn't tackle. This was ten days ago. Today she went back for her follow-up, was given clearance to lose the collar of shame, and quite literally within five minutes of having it off and proceeding to run around as if high on the joy of newfound liberation, out pops the darn cherry eye again. Do any of you guys have any experience with this? I really don't want to put her through this again just to run the same risk, but am also hesitant to have the gland/eyelid removed for fear of creating more long term issues. If this situation is merely cosmetic and wont likewise lead to issues if left untreated, i think id rather leave it be. cherry eye or not, shes still beautiful! Any guidance/advice/sympathies to pass on to Jenny/random thoughts would be very much appreciated!

 

[Fontanafox]

I had to have the cherry eye surgery done twice on one of my bullies. The first vet didn't do a very good job so I took her to a second vet who was actually an experienced bulldog vet and it came out great! The first vet said dogs can live with cherry eye and that it's purely cosmetic if we choose surgery. My boy bullie developed cherry eye and it was tacked by the same experienced bulldog vet and I've not had any problems other maintaining eye health with eye drops and optimmune ointment.

 

[2BullyMama]

there are a few members here that have had this done for their bully.... UGH -- I can not think of one name right now.

[MENTION=2092]JAKEISGREAT[/MENTION], [MENTION=2014]JeannieCO[/MENTION], [MENTION=4246]ChanelnBrutus[/MENTION], .... any idea on who can give some info from experience

 

[Vikinggirl]

Hi, my name is Monica, I have 2 EB , brother and sister , they are 8 months old. Their names are Bulldozer and Blossom. My female Blossom developed cherry eye in her right eye when she was 5 months old, it came out small at first, and I was able to massage it in for a little while, but after a couple of months it kept coming out, and got progressively bigger. When I took her to the vet for her vaccinations, I showed it to her, and asked her questions regarding surgery. I specifically asked her about the technique she used, as I had read that some vets will remove the eyelid, and some will tack it back in. She said she used the tacking in method, and that she had a technique, that she used that she had 85 % success rate with. She told me that removing the eyelid causes problems with dry eye, and that it should be used only as a last resort. We opted like you to wait until we had Blossom spayed and do both surgeries together, so when she was 7 months old, we did both surgeries. We had great success, and the vet did a beautiful job, unfortunately , I didn't take pictures of the right eye, but I did of her left eye, which I will post. Unfortunately her left eye came out a week after we fixed her right eye, we thought we were free and clear, since the two eyes came out 3 months apart from each other. When we went for her follow up check up appointment for the right eye we showed the vet her left eye, it had come out quite large right from the beginning, not like the other one, which was gradual. So again we opted to fix it, she had the surgery on November 9th / 2012.

 

[Vikinggirl]

Sorrry, I had to post twice, because its so long. Again we had it tacked in, and it healed beautifully like the first one. It's been 2 months since the surgery on the right eye, and 2 weeks since the left eye was done. My vet said that if the cherry eye were to come back out, it's usually within the first few days to a week following the surgery. We are lucky, in that we got great results. The vet recommended fixing the eye, as leaving it can cause complications. By leaving the cherry eye , it leaves it exposed to the air, and this causes dryness , irritation of the eye , and teary eye due to the irritation. She said it can cause problems later with sight, due to the swelling of the cherry when it is exposed to the air over time. The longer it is exposed to air, the larger the cheery eye can become due to it drying out and swelling. I've read other people's stories on here regarding their experiences with cherry eye, and how they had it removed, and it was fine, with no dry eye problems, or complications. So I don't know which method is truly the better way to go. I guess it's a decision or choice that you have to weigh all the pros and cons of both procedures, and discuss with your vet, and then make the decision. I hope this helps you, and I wish you luck with Jenny's eye.

Here are before and after pictures of Blossoms left eye. The first picture is before, the others are 2 weeks post surgery.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

I can only think of [MENTION=1648]Lucy-licious[/MENTION] right now! And I'm not certain it was same thing..but [MENTION=6311]Vikinggirl[/MENTION] gave some gread info! I'm sure others will have a better memory than me!

 

[JeannieCO]

Off the top of my head I can not think of who's bully has had Cherry Eye surgery/or issues. Sorry not much help. Looks like [MENTION=6311]Vikinggirl[/MENTION] has experience.

I just did a search and here's who pops up in their posts. [MENTION=6190]Izzy's Mom[/MENTION].

Here an article we have too that may help.
http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/content.php?r=398-Cherry-eye-what-is-it-and-how-to-treat-it

 

[Izzy's Mom]

Yes, that's me! We just had Izzy's left eye done last Wednesday. I read all the threads here too before deciding on what to do. I tried to massage but it did not work for her so the next step was to take her to her vet. Izzy's cherry eye was more than just a cosmetic case, in very little time that it popped out her eye was already getting irritated and we noticed the gland being big and red and it didnt look well.

I really trust her vet A LOT so the surgery procedure was never a major concern for me, Izzy is young and I tend to be more on the positive side when it comes to things like this. I do freak out and get nervous and I am the type of person that I need to take care of something right away when it happens and we could chose to get some oinment and eye drops for her or go ahead and tuck it in.

Another positive point is that her vet has this agreement that if ever pops out he will do it for free but the surgery did cost us around $400 for 1 eye. Here are some pictures of Izzy on the day before the surgery, day after the surgery and yesterday. Izzy was fine after the surgery and is healing great.



If it happens again with Izzy (even if the vet did not cover the cost) I would chose to stitch it back instead of the gland removal). I am just too afraid that when she is older that her eyes might get dry if we do the gland removal procedure... it sounds too evasive for me.

 

[ChanelnBrutus]

Brutus at about 4-5 months his right eye gland popped out and I was able to massage it back in with a warm compress (didnt come back) About 4 weeks after his surgery(neuter/urethra) he was 9 months and his left eye gland popped! We massaged it back the same way and it hast come back since.