Have you ever dealt with one before? If so, how was it treated?
Have you ever used miconozol for eyes? My horse’s opthamologist has ordered coochie cream for my horse’s eye!
I work for a veterinary ophthalmologist and we see a lot of horses and unfortunately fungal infections are pretty common. We use Miconazole and Itraconazole in DMSO, studies show that the Itraconazole penetrates better. Depending on the case some horses require surgery to remove the fungal plaque and sometimes put a graft over the defect in the eye. My guess is that your veterinary ophthalmologist is not that concerned if she hasn’t already mentioned this. Good luck, fungal infections can become nasty quick, but good for you for getting the horse checked on and now it’s just up to diligent care.
I would certainly appreciate conversation by PM if you would be willing. This horse is 29, and surgery would not be an option. My vet and the consulting opthamologist feel that we can manage this. But, I do worry about him. I know that at 29, all systems are not as good at combating things as they used to be.
We have been through so very much. I hate the thought of losing him over a scratched eye gone bad.
I’ve used miconazol for my horse’s corneal ulcers as per my vet’s instructions - it was one of many things we had to use to treat her eye and to help heal the ulcers. I’ve had three different vets tell me to use it - and one is an opthamologist. 
Make sure to apply treatment as often or more often than the vet has prescribed! My horse had a very small scratch that became infected, etc. and it got really bad, even with treatment. It turned a blue/grey color and I was sleeping at the barn to treat it every 3-4 hours and he still ended up having his eye removed.
I don’t mean to scare people when I tell them what happened to my guy, but it seems like many people don’t take eye injuries seriously enough. Whatever you do, treat this as aggressively as you can!
Eye infections can go bad very quickly, but it sounds as if you found his early. I sent you a pm about my horse’s experience-hope it helps.
Fungal infections are slow to grow and slow to heal. Most seem to take 6-8+ weeks from start to finish and yes, miconozol is the med of choice for fungal problems. My boss uses the eye drop form of it- comes from a pharmacy down near New Orleans.
Ditto Kristi’s advice- do not skip a treatment during the day.
I agree - treat the eye VERY agressively. My mare had to spend four days at NE Equine Medical and Surgical Center when her first corneal ulcer appeared. It was so bad she had to have treatments EVERY HOUR for the first two days and it gradually tapered off to four times a day when I picked her up but that went on for weeks. I made sure I never missed a treatment. Her second ulcer wasn’t nearly as bad but we still treated it a minimum of four times a day. Eyes can go downhill in no time at all and I can’t understand why people wait to call the vet. Sounds like the OP jumped on it right away which is the way to handle it.
ryansgirl, it sounds like your horse had the same type of injury that my horse did.
OP, how is your horse doing?
we had our old school master break with a fungal infection that was quite stubborn. The ophthalmologist said he had seen more animals that season with fungal infections and wondered if the weather pattern had favored the development of a virulent strain.
That said I agree strongly that the doctors medications and advice need to be followed strictly and for full duration if not beyond. Fungus by its very nature is very hard to kill
Our horse, since his infection , is quite sunlight sensitive and wears a special fly mask with eye cups. It makes him look like a mutant horse fly.
http://www.horsemask.com/products.html
this fly mask is spendy but worth a ton!
OH yeah! We use that same mask. My daughter has even jumped her boy in it. It took him a while to figure out the fences, but then he love it. It is defintely worth it’s cost.
edited to add: We call it the Darth Vador mask, or the Batman mask, lol!
I have been treating this every 3-4 hours for 3 weeks now.
It is not an option for him to “lose the eye”. Though he is the type that would function quite well without.
He is 29, and would be unlikely to handle surgery of any sort.
He is doing quite well right now. The eye tears a little with the application of the meds. And even though he is very tolerant, he is getting tired of the whole meds in the eye, cookie in the mouth routine.
Maybe because at 3 am it might be cookie in the eye, meds in the mouth?
Appreciate Jingles for Danny of course.
Just tossing this out for consideration, your vet did check his nasolacrimal duct to make sure it wasn’t blocked, yes??
Often with fungal eye problems part of the problem is the blocked duct and my boss usually prescribes drops over ointments when treating fungals- to reduce the chance of blocking the duct again.
Jingles sent for your grand Saint.
If he’s getting tired of the meds, can the ophtho or your vet put a sub-palpebral lavage system in? An SPL is a tube that goes through the eyelid (some vets put it in the top lid, some use the bottom lid) and down the mane so that you are injecting liquid eye meds into the tube near his withers and flushing it through with air. They still don’t like it, but it is easier for you to deal with. They can be put in standing – you sedate the horse and block (numb) the eyelids.
Also, different fungi are susceptible to different drugs, so if miconazole is not working, there are “bigger guns” the vets can pull out before giving up, such as itra/DMSO and natamycin.
Good luck/jingles, for your grand old guy!
My mare had a SPL for a long time since her eye was so bad - made treating it every hour much easier!! Of course she figure out the second you touched her mane what was next - since the end was tied into her mane with the tube following her mane up between her ears, down her forehead and then up to her eye (stitches held it in place). She wore a neck blanket all the time just to keep it from getting caught on anything. Highly recommend having a SPL if you have to treat that much - makes things a lot easier and you know the meds are getting into the eye.
My friend’s horse got this after a scratch to the eye. When medication didn’t clear it up, she had the “surgery” which consisted of the ophthalmologist scraping the eye. No big deal for this horse who was in her 20s at the time and after that it healed. You could see a tiny white spot but it didn’t seem to affect the horse’s vision and she never got it again.
I went through this with my daughters pony. He ended up at the vet hospital and had eye surgery the next morning to cut out the infectied area. They installed a SPL system and he was on meds every hour. They cultured out his fungus and it was something the vet had never seen before. He stayed there for several weeks. We ended up with a vet bill a good bit more than we paid for the pony but we were able to save his eye. It was worth it. I’m jingling for your old guy but if things look bad, I think removing an eye is a fairly simple procedure that might be something you should consider.
lol bird! We had a similar Vet bill for my daughter’s horse too. Of course he was worth it because we love him. But dang! :eek:
Is anyone currently dealing with a fungal infection in their horse’s eye? My horse has been at vet hospital for three weeks, on meds through SPL system every 4 hours plus banamine. Anyone with some advice or experience that would be helpful?
You might be better off starting your own thread (this one is 9 yrs old).
No advice only sympathy, I am going on 4 weeks with a corneal ulcer in my mares eye. Now being treated as fungal as well 
