Long story short 23yr arabian gelding had surgery under general anesthesia to remove a lot of infection in the sinus along with several teeth that cause the infection. The hole is about 1.5x2 inches. The vet felt like the bone flap was to damaged to save. He also did not save the skin flap. So there is now a gaping hole under his eye… my vet assured me that it would close up within a few months but it was sure a shock to see. Apparently he like to do it this way to make it easier to flush the sinuses everyday, you can get to more area? My question is has anyone had this experience? How did the healing process go? I trust the vet but wanted to see if this has happened to anyone. My guy seems okay, eating drinking doing horse things just a little tired. Doesn’t seem to be in pain. Thank you!
In one of the attempts to treat my mare’s sinus infection, she had about a 1" hole that was left open. It healed uneventfully and faster than I expected. Once healed, you couldn’t tell where it had been.
I think I kept a fly mask on it to help protect it from flies and general debris, but check with your vet before doing anything like that to make sure it won’t cause other problems (e.g. rubbing that might affect healing).
General anesthesia can be hard on the horses and it can take them a little time to bounce back, so the fact that your horse is tired is probably normal. However, keep in touch with your vet about his general attitude; your vet will want to know if he doesn’t seem to be getting back to his normal self.
Yes, I had a horse who had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his sinuses, leaving him with very large hole. He had a criss-cross bandage on his head when he was released to come home, and I was not prepared for the sight of it - I came to the barn the next morning, and his bandage had slipped and flies were swarming him. I understand the shock you feel - it completely freaked me out. I could see right into his head.
However, it healed over just fine with no special treatment (other than keeping it flushed and clean), and even with the flies he had no issues and no infection, etc.
I agree with Halt Near X that maybe a fly mask would be a good idea, if your vet approves. And up the fly control measures - keep the area wiped down with fly repellant, etc.
It looks scary but I’m sure your horse will do fine. But I totally get you about being shocked.
Yes, I had a horse who had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his sinuses, leaving him with very large gaping hole. He had a criss-cross bandage on his head covering it when he was released to come home. I came to the barn the next morning, and his bandage had slipped, or he had rubbed it off, and flies were swarming him. I understand the shock you feel - I flipped out, actually.
However, it healed over just fine with no special treatment (other than keeping it flushed and clean), and even with the flies he had no issues and no infection, etc.
I agree with Halt Near X that maybe a fly mask would be a good idea, if your vet approves. And up the fly control measures - keep the area wiped down with fly repellant, etc.
It looks scary but I’m sure your horse will do fine. But I totally get you about being shocked.
Thank you guys. It’s good to know others have had this happen and it healed up just fine. I don’t care how it ends up looking as long as there is no hole! Luckily it’s winter so won’t have to worry to much about flys but my vet did say that they will put a ‘sock’ of fine mesh over his face to keep dirt out when he come home.
Did you have to flush it? How did that go? I won’t have any help when he comes home so the vet suggested that he stay at the clinic for a week to get overy the most sensitive period.
They heal very quickly and I’ve never had an issue with one with proper flushing. I usually recommend clients pick up on of those silly Rambo fly masks with the hoops that keep the mask well off the face and won’t touch the surgical site but check with your vet too of course.
We have been thru sinus infections and surgery. Had some complications but all is well now. Jingles for an uneventful recovery.
Well it’s been a couple days and already looks better. Or I just got over my shock haha. I’m bring him home this weekend. Anyone have any favorite healing supplements or wound care products for this type of injury? Hope everyone had a great Christmas! And thank you for all the replies!
My guy did after a tooth extraction; as well as one of my boarder’s horses. We did routine saline flushes; and bandaged with Elastikon and fly masks. I put my guy on Colostrum while he was recovering, and I really think it helped with recovery time. Both healed up nicely though; and were barely noticeable afterwards.
Good to know. Where did you get your Colostrum from?
If the “hole” doesn’t continue healing, stay on top of it with your vet.
We had a 21-year-old TB gelding who went through the bone flap surgery to have an upper molar that was abscessed and “key stoned” in removed (ie, the tooth couldn’t be pulled out). The wound healed okay at first but then stopped healing and developed a discharge (there was also discharge out of the nostril on that side); both discharges had an “off” smell).
Very long story short, it turned out that not all of the tooth’s roots had been removed and our poor gelding developed a massive infection from the retained root piece. The surgeon should have caught the root remnants with peri- or postoperative radiographs…our own vet could feel the root piece in the socket, which clued us into what was going on.
Seven months later and a second surgery (at different facility) could not resolve the infection and our gelding finally “gave up” and we put him down. Absolutely broke our hearts, but we had him euthanized at New Bolton Center (who were wonderful; New Bolton’s Dr. Eric Parente did the second surgery and recovered as much of the remaining piece as possible) so they could use his body in an MRI study.
The MRI demonstrated that the retained root had “woven” itself into the skull, which was the reason for the ongoing infection and also, at the end, the skull beginning to soften and “cave in” on that side.
I am so sorry to share this story and potentially scare you, but your boy should be fine, especially if you know what to keep an eye on. I just never want anyone else to go through what we did.
