Case Story: Always keep an ‘eye’ on your pets…
The lovely Giorgia came to us for her routine annual vaccinations earlier this year, her owner’s had noticed a mass growing on the lower eyelid of her left eye.
It wasn’t causing Giorgia any issues at that moment, however her owners were aware that eyelid masses can grow and cause discomfort and secondary complications to the eye such as eye infections and eye ulcers.
Did you know that you can remove up to 25-33% of an eyelid without requiring reconstructive surgery? However, we recommend removing any eyelid mass before they grow that big.
Two weeks later, we re-examined Giorgia’s eye and noticed that the mass, despite not causing any irritation, was growing quickly. Giorgia’s owners were keen to prevent any complications from occurring and did not want to risk reconstructive surgery if the mass grew more, so the decision was made to book Giorgia in for surgery to remove the mass.
The following week, Giorgia underwent a general anaesthetic, and surgery was performed to safely remove the small eyelid mass. See the diagram showing how we removed the mass – demonstrating a pentagonal (“house”) or wedge resection due to the shape of the incision. A soft suture material was used to close the incision afterwards and Giorgia was sent home with topical lubricant, pain relief and an Elizabethan collar to prevent rubbing of her eye post-surgery.
Giorgia recovered from her surgery very well and after 3 weeks we removed the sutures, and you can barely tell which eye was operated on! Thanks to Giorgia’s proactive owners, what could have become a complex surgery was easily resolved with early recognition and quick intervention. Remember to always keep an “eye” on your pets!
