can anyone give us some advice on cherry eye
we have just got a 5 month old neapoiltan mastiff
and it has cherry eye can you tell us about it and how to treat it and iam not happy with advice im getting from the vet

paul and jayne

We see the occasional case at eye testing but not that many. Have a look at this link, it explains it rather better than I could.

Cherry eye

Regards, John

Our cocker spaniel developed ths problem at about 6 months. After a few weeks and various visits to the vets, he advised us the best course of action was to remove the glands (it was in both eyes). We have had no problems since (he is now 2 1/2) although I believe that some dogs can suffer from 'dry eye'.

I have had this successfully removed by surgery in a hound.

Cherry eyes are a very common in neo's, in Australia we get them removed, then you don't have any problems with them again.If you have any more question drop me a line on
titanlodge@hotmail.com
samantha

Hi Samantha (and sam & nicki), just curious about this one. All of you say that 'you get them removed'. Does that mean that you have had the entire gland removed? I ask because years ago our vet got my other half and me (we are both human eye surgeons) to 'marsupialise' the gland in a bulldog, and he still uses the procedure because of the risk of dry eye if the gland is removed.

I presume it was the whole gland that was removed, thats how it was explained, and how it read on the op. form although its over two years ago now. There didnt appear to be any other options and you do tend to listen to your vet (like you do your doctor!)

i had this converstaion with my boss ! and apparently it is now unethical to remove them ! i suppose because of the major problem with dry eye ? normally we just suture them back in place(dissolvable) under a general anesthetic.

I have just been reading up on this, and it seems that the current accepted practise is to "replace" (ie. re-attach) the gland.

We are busy buying a 4 month old beagle puppy who has had one eye fixed is about to have the other one done- sadly this means waiting a couple of weeks before we can get the dog from the breeder because she wants to make sure he is sorted out before we get him. Does anyone have any advise on the advisability of getting a puppy with this history (as a pet, not a show dog). From what I have read there is a ninety percent chance of complete success with the ptocedure, and if there is recurrance the glands can be stitched in again.

I just found this bit of contradictory advice, advocating gland removal, but it seems relate mainly to Neopolitan Mastiff's. Its from the Ironstone Neoppolitan Mastiff website: http://www.ironstone.net/veterinary.htm

Cherry eye is the common name for a the condition caused when the gland of the third eyelid of the dog, otherwise known as Harder's gland or nictitans gland, becomes inflamed, swells up, pops out of place on the bulbar side of the third eyelid, and becomes more inflamed, swollen and irritated such that it becomes bloody and ulcerated, and can cover 1/2 to the whole eyeball of the dog. The condition is then referred to as follicular conjunctivitis. It used to be that when dogs developed cherry eye, veterinarians would simply remove the gland, just as medical doctors routinely removed inflamed tonsils in people. Within the past decade or so, it has now been decided that removing the gland is bad because perhaps the removal of that gland will result in reduced tear production leading to dry eye or keratoconjunctivits sicca. So now veterinarians routinely want to sew the prolapsed gland back in its original place on the third eyelid, sort of under the eyeball. There are other glands around the eyeball which make tears, and the gland of the third eyelid is not the major gland, but veterinarians are afraid of doing anything which might reduce tear production and cause the dry eye. Therefore, veterinarians all over the country refuse to remove the prolapsed gland from a Neo's eye with the resulting catastrophes as depicted by the photos below.


This is a cherry eye in a 3 months old puppy.



This is the eye about 1 minute later. It took a minute to remove the gland.


This is a cherry eye which had been sutured down once by an opthalmologist and which popped out again. It had to be removed, and of course the removal is much more difficult when there is lots of scar tissue from the attempts to suture it down.


This is a cherry eye which had been sutured down twice at a veterinary school and popped out again. It was finally removed, and the owners have had no complaints of dry eye for the years since its removal.


This puppy had 2 cherry eyes which had been sutured down, twice on one side and once on the other by two different veterinarians before the owner finally was able to find a veterinarian to remove them.



This puppy has a cherry eye which had been sewn down. It also has a dry eye in spite of the cherry eye still being there. The cornea is cloudy because of the keratoconjunctivitis sicca.


It is difficult to see in the photo, but the lashes from the upper lid are dragging onto the eyeball irritating it, causing a conjunctivitis or inflammation of all the tissue around the eyeball, and leading to the development of the cherry eye, which as we said before is follicular conjunctivitis around the gland of the third eyelid. Since it is a requirement of the standard that Neapolitan Mastiffs have heavy wrinkling of the face, then it is common that the heavy wrinkling of the brow forces inward turning of the upper eyelid. The lashes drag onto the eyeball causing the chronic irritation. This irritation leads to the development of the cherry eye. It is also this severe chronic irritation which causes perhaps an immune mediated response which leads to lack of tear production and dry eye and corneal problems.

What veterinarians who refuse to remove the irritated cherry eye do not understand is that:
1. Some Neos can have the cherry eye removed and never get dry eye.
2. Some Neos never have the cherry eye develop and still get dry eye.
3. Some Neos have the cherry eye removed and do get dry eye, but usually these dogs have the lashes dragging onto the cornea because the owners do not want to pay to get an entropion procedure done.

4. One can't successfully sew down the huge, irritated cherry eye of the Neapolitan Mastiff because the Neapolitan Mastiff's connective tissue is so lax and stretchy that no matter what kind of sutures are put in, the gland slips right out again. The tissue just stretches out again. The cartilage in the third eyelid is also very soft, not rigid, and it slips out right along with the cherry eye, so there is nothing solid or stable to hold the inflamed gland in place. Perhaps the suturing procedure will work in the non typey, tight skinned Neos which do not adhere to the Neapolitan Mastiff standard. In a normal typey, loose tissued Neo, however, the suturing down procedure does not work. It usually causes more problems than it solves.