Corpora nigra detachment/migration

[Aleuronx]

First off: eye injuries are scary. I arrived to the barn to find a swollen, closed weepy eye. Talked with vet and dosed with banamine (which cut down swelling dramatically) while waiting for vet. Preliminary vet exam showed that the corpora nigra in that eye had detached and traveled in a straight downward track to the bottom of the eye. Cloudy track that it traveled was visible as well as cloudy swelling toward back corner of eye.

Dye stain showed no uptake so no ulceration or lacerations. One good thing? Horse has been given another small dose banamine, atropine and antibiotic/steroid drops for the night. Drops will be continued for the next week. Vet will be back tomorrow to try and observe lens.

Of course I am thoroughly freaking myself out by trying to look up things online. Not much information at all of course. Vet basically said that the horse may have issues with light/light changes but the migration was strange. This was likely due to a force injury, banged the eye hard on something. No identifiable marks on the face of course.

Anyone with experience with this? I felt like a completely inexperienced horseperson today, had no idea that sort of eye structure could move! It so far seems like she has vision in that eye and was much improved pain/swelling wise and keeping the eye open toward the end of the day. But like I said eye injuries are just scary.

[flyracing]

You may want to consult a boarded ophthalmologist if you haven’t already.

[ryansgirl]

Are you in NH?? I highly suggest you take your horse to see Dr. Nick Cassotis at New England Equine in Dover. He saved my mares eye (melting ulcer from hell). He only does eyes and is one heck of a vet!

Personally if this was my horse we’d already be at the hospital.

[Aleuronx]

I am. After vet exam tomorrow I believe I will be calling NEE. I really trust their expertise.

Thanks for the recommendation. Is he there full time or just certain days, partial hours type thing?

[ryansgirl]

If it’s an emergency he’ll be there (or his wife). He used to go just on Fridays (& emergencies as needed) but that may have changed. Fridays were typically when they scheduled eye appointment with him. He also does small animal eyes so he’s super busy all the time but he’s always done whatever he could to get there. He is worth the trip!

[cayuse]

Dr. Cassotis also did surgery on my mare, saving her eye. Wonderful vet.
OP how is your horse today? Jingling for good news.

[Aleuronx]

She’s stable with the current support protocol. Vet came out today to take a peek and the eye is mostly unchanged perhaps some more streaking from where it fell or the strands are separating. Hard to tell. Vet discussed with two animal ophthalmologists and they agreed that support protocol is the way to go.

I’m happy that the eye is open, not weepy and swelling has not returned. We will be heading to New England Equine tomorrow afternoon to have her seen by their ophthalmologist. It is no longer Dr. Cassotis, I don’t remember the exact name but it is a woman. Sorry, my poor brain the last 24 hours.

Hopefully that will give us some answers and path forward, even if it’s just keep on what we’re doing.

[Aleuronx]

Saw Dr. Clode yesterday evening and while rare in occurrence we have done all the right things. Her vision has not been affected and there is a very minimal bleed in the back of her eye which will dissipate on it’s own, not a concern and in line with a blunt force injury. She clocked her eye pretty good. Eye pressure in the damaged eye is in the right direction and a re-stain showed no uptake on the cornea so clear with no scratches or ulceration.

Only concern is the fibrin protein streaking within the front of the eye from the inflammation/trauma of the separation. It can potentially dissolve on it’s own and be a non-issue, if not she will have to come back in for an injection in the eye to dissolve them so they do not affect vision and the pressure balance in the eye going forward.

I am so glad I brought her in, even if to lighten my bank account. We are to continue with the antibiotic/steroid drops and banamine support and re-evaluate for Wednesday whether further treatment is needed.

Overall if things progress well she should have no vision impairments from this event and shouldn’t need special considerations due to sunlight. Phew!

Just wanted to post this follow-up if anyone ever has a similar situation happen. It’s apparently quite rare but I hope my experience can help others in the future.

[ryansgirl]

Glad to hear the good update!!

[Aleuronx]

@AZHiker456

I’m glad everything worked out too, and thank you so much for sharing!

I just logged in and saw this AZHiker456. Sorry to hear about your gelding, from what my vets said it is a slightly rare occurrence and typically a result of trauma from or because of sudden increased pressure in the eye.

As a further update for anyone else that is curious. My mare did several weeks later end up developing some cataract ‘webbing’ in that eye. Luckily for us it did not negatively affect the eye pressures to the point where we’d have to think about surgical removal. It is also fairly minor in that she does seem to have a good sense of vision in that eye still. We do keep tabs on it but it has otherwise not bothered her performance.

I do have a pretty cool photo of it somewhere from Dr. Clode, I can try and find it tonight to post it.

I hope your gelding turned out as positively!

[BlueDrifter]

I own a horse whose PPE showed one eye with a rather large corpora nigra. He doesn’t seem spooky about it and I was told there is a laser surgery to remove it, if it should become a problem. I could barely see it during the exam, but just last month, on a bright day, it stood out and yikes! looks bigger than I thought. I looked for it the next day and it seemed small again… I think it can swing around like a bunch of grapes.

I think it looks scarier than it is, and your experience is supporting that. Thanks for sharing

[Aleuronx]

Here are the images I have, in hopes that it might help someone else. I know I would have felt a lot better about the whole thing if I could have read about someone else’s experience.

Here’s the initial injury and how the eye looked
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This was I believe maybe a week or less after
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“thumb”,“data-attachmentid”:10147888}[/ATTACH]
This is the what the cataract that formed looked like, a star-like pattern.
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