Hi all
I posted a while back about my 12 year old girls eyes. She developed an ulcer a few weeks ago, she has very dry eyes, it seems likely that this is the cause of the ulcer and the reason that it is healing so slowly. It is fractionally smaller this week but the cornea is developing a lot of blood vessels over it. (looks dreadful) she can't have the drops to treat the dry eye until the ulcer clears but she is on antibiotic drops 3x daily to prevent infection and artificial tears as often as I can to try and help it heal, I've also been flushing it out with saline when it seems to get a lot of dirt or hairs stuck to it. The Vets are muttering about operations but as it isn't getting deeper and has improved very slightly (though much slower than they'd like) I'm hoping to avoid the decision. Not one I'm sure about as she is increasingly frail with HD and arthritis and I'm not keen on an op for her.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience or ulcers or Dry-Eye? any tips for treatment?

What breed is she? Are you sure it is an ulcer and not Pannus--GSDs are prone to this, and probably other breeds as well. Optimmune ointment has proved hugely successful for my GSD with Pannus.

I had advice from a vet about an eye ulcer , under treatment with false tears and antibiotics , and luckily there was an eye testing session within a couple of days and I travelled up to see the top eye man (for me ) Prof Peter Bedford , and he put me right ,and what the vet was offering to do was completely wrong, no operation was needed.

Hi, Thanks for your response.
She is a Labrador. Pretty certain it is an ulcer. The vet I am seeing is an ophthalmic specialist so I have to assume he knows his stuff. I first noticed a slight mark on her eyeball and a faint cloudiness which I suspected was the start of an ulcer, made an appointment with the vet the following day and it was worse by then. The ulcer was spread over her entire eye but apparently not deep.she also has a dark spot which is apparently a ruptured iris cyst but that is unconnected. (much deeper) she has very dark eyes so not visible before. Over the last few weeks I've lost count on how many times we've been back for a check up but it has shrunk slightly and there is now a visible border of eye around the ulcer, the vascularisation started to appear just before Christmas so not there at the start. The Vet doesn't seem too concerned about that aspect of it, the blood supply is supposed to help the eye heal I think? I saw a vet yesterday but only my regular vet as the ophthalmic guy wasn't available this week, just to check that I am ok to hold on until next weeks appointment.
I've not heard of Pannus but I just had a quick google, is it just blood vessels over the eye? is it a disease in itself or a symptom?
I think the ops we are talking about are either a corneal graft (had one of these on a dog in the past, same vet) or stitching the 3rd eyelid across. The trouble is that neither of these are absolutely guaranteed to work and wont fix the tear production which is the main problem with the healing.
I should also say that she seems supremely unconcerned by the eye, rubs it occasionally but generally ignores it, no blinking or squinting like she's in pain although it must be irritating to her. 

With eye ulcers that are being slow to heal I'd be getting the dog checked for hypothyroidism as a precaution.
This condition can make dogs slow healers.

Third eyelid stitch is ok, only thing that I don't like is not being able to see what's going on with the eye.
But all my dogs that  have had this treatment their ulcers have healed.

Also got given gentamycin (spelling?) drops when the third eye lid was stitched.

Ulcers can be real devils to heal, but keep going and you will get there.

One method used for helping to heal stubborn ulcers is to tack acros the third eyelid, thereby keeping the eye moist.  Ab drops still penetrate.

thanks,
my concern with this is that as she is not producing adequate tears wouldn't we just be stitching it in dry? as once its stitched I don't think the artificial tears will penetrate. I've never actually seen the 3rd eyelid on a dog, is it that fleshy red bit we see in the corner of the eye sometimes? Is it closed naturally at all? 
If only it wasn't this old girl I wouldn't be in such a dilemma, the day is coming when she just wont be able to walk any more. she's going on ok but I'll be pleased if she makes it to another summer let alone her 13th Bday next autumn. it's not pain with her (she's on Troxcil (sp)) but her legs are getting very weak now and she has had some small strokes of some kind which mean she is a little lopsided and is permanently a little of balance so very easy to knock over. All in all not a dog I would normally consider invasive treatment for.