Opthamology

Feb 11, 2011

Vocab:
Enuclation: A surgery in which the dog's eye is removed completely. Dog's with this surgery have their eye lides sutured shut.

Evisceration: A surgery where all of the contents inside the dog's eye ball are removed and the eyeball is left with the muscles. It is a cosmetic surgery for owners who do not want the Enuclation result.

Today was the most interesting day in the Opthamology rotation. We were supposed to go to a seminar that the veterinary clinic had. However, there were so many patients today that we could not go. One of them was a blind dog who's eye preassure was too high meaning the contents inside the eye were not drainning properly. Because of the high preassure the dog was in pain which is why the owner was given the option of either the Enuclation or Evisceration surgery for his dog. One of the main problems about the Evisceration is that there is a 40% chance that something can go wrong. If the dog were to have a successful operation there is still a high chance that it can get an infection from any material that touches the eye. After explaining all of this to the owner the veterinarian showed some pictures of dogs with the two different surgeries. Seeing the blue scar that forms over a dog's iris who had the Evisceration done, and knowning that his dog would be most comfortable with the removal of the eye is the reason he decided to go with the Enuclation surgery (D). I never noticed how important communication skills are for veterinarians. A veterinarian must make sure to explain to owners the options are, how the dog will look afterward, and let them know what could go wrong. That is the best way to ensure that an owner will be satisfied with the outcome of the procedures (A).

The second patient had some mass on top of it's eye that was blocking part of the vision. Dr. Kubai (a resident in opthamology) decided to remove part of it now and the rest later. After putting numbing eye drops on the dog she grabbed the mass forceps and cut it with her scissors. It was shocking to see her do this while the animal was wide awake and could see everything she was doing, fortunately she was able to do the procedure with no injuries to the dog's eye (D). Seeing this makes me feel excited and motivated to maybe even specializing in surgery (F).