Anyway, I'll give you the layman terms and then the medical diagnosis.
In layman terms Faith has no vision in her right eye. However, in her left eye she does have vision though at the moment it's very blurred due to pigment covering her cornea. The best news is that the Dr is confident this can be improved for her with treatment. That was by far the best news of the day!
Now for the medical diagnosis:
Right Eye:
- Dermoid - eyelid
- Dermoid - conjunctiva and cornea
- Microphthalmic (congenitally small eye)
- Peter's Anomaly (iris lens adhered to cornea)
- Pigmentary Keratitis
- Blind
Left Eye:
- Dermoid - eyelid
- Pigmentary Keratitis
- Sighted
- Early Keratoconjunctivitis (Dry Eye)
What does all that mean?
Faith was born with multiple developmental abnormalities affecting both eyes. There are areas of normal skin located in abnormal locations (eyelids, conjunctiva, cornea) called dermoids. Both corneas have dense pigment covering their surface. The right eye is small and internal differentiation of tissues into separate structures within the eye never occurred. The right eye was born blind and is permanently blind. Apply vaseline to the hairs near the outer corner of the eye in an attempt to "train" (re-direct) these hairs away from the corneas. With early KCS, dogs have a paradoxical hyperlacrimation (over-production) of the aqueous component of tears in response to ocular pain. The prognosis for early KCS is very good. However, although KCS is a treatable disease, it is not curable, and life-long treatment will be necessary.
I left with 3 different drops that I need to use for the next 4-6 weeks until she goes back for a re-check. One of the drops will need to be used indefinitely in place of the current Refresh drops I use for her now. So the intent is to see how much pigment can be removed with the use of these drops and then re-evaluate. If using vaseline to re-train the eye hairs does not work, then he said surgery would need to happen to remove those, but only on the left eye. I am so thankful that I took her for this appointment today. I'm thrilled to know that we can hopefully improve what sight she does have out of her left eye. Though I had a feeling she didn't have sight from her right eye, it was a bit difficult to actually hear the diagnosis. She seems to adapt so well, I thought maybe she indeed had more sight than what we thought she might have. I'm so thankful to have an official diagnosis and feel this was an extremely positive appointment. She did great at the appointment today and was a real trooper!
Here is a picture of Faith with GL while we were waiting for the Dr to come in.....
Oh and Faith weighed in at 8.1 lbs today! I last weighed her on March 1 and she was 7 lbs, I was expecting her to weigh a bit more, but I'm thankful she's continuing to grow and she looks really good. She's filling out and I still think she's probably just going to be a tiny little girl :) She is taller and longer than Hope already and right now as I type she's laying right on top of Hope! I must say on a side note I'm thrilled with Faith's interaction with my other dogs. Though it took Duke & Hope a bit longer, they both play with her a lot more! It's wonderful to see and as always Faith continues to shine with her zest for life! It was a good day! Unexpected time with GL :) And a very important and big day for Faith. I'm confident moving forward with her treatment knowing we are now on the right course and I'm so thankful I didn't put this appointment off any longer! Well, I'm going to work on a Thankful Thursday post now....so check back again tomorrow!
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