Hi there!..I’m Suzy and I live in Israel with my husband, two kids and my 3 year old chocolate/pointer mix Bella.
We found Bella dumped in a garbage pile when she was just 2mths old and immediately adopted her, we always say how lucky we are that someone else decided that they didn’t want her because she is just an absolute joy and the most loving, funny, obedient dog ever!.. Everything was fine until about a month ago Bella had woken up with her 3rd eye lid covering half her eye and i noticed it was a little red and swollen, so I took her straight to the vet. He didn’t see an infection but prescribed her some antibiotic eye drops just to make sure…The next day she woke up with her whole eye a kind of 
bluish grey colour so I rushed her straight back to the vet who made me an appointment with the ophthalmologist that afternoon, but it was too late!, she has already lost sight in her left eye, the diagnosis was Primary Glaucoma. We were told that she would probably lose sight in her right eye too one day and she would eventually be completely blind. We were absolutely devastated for our baby and very worried about her future!….I became obssessed with looking up similar stories on the internet which led me to this website THANK GOD!!!!…I have found a lot of support by seeing other dogs coping so well with blindness…its such a comfort to know that other people have been through this!.
Anyway last week Bella’s pressure in her left eye shot up and could no longer be controlled by meds, so she has an injection into her eye to kill the cells that produce the fluid which will permanently controls the pressure, This procedure was done by my amazing ophthalmologist and has saved her eye from being removed and the only after care was antibiotic eye drops. We have to go back in a week to check the pressure in her eye to make sure it worked, but I’m sure it has because she seems to have returned to her normal crazy self and doesn’t seem to be in pain!.
Her good eye is still responding well with treatment and I hope it will hold up, but I know from everyone’s stories that she will be ok whatever the outcome!…thanks for this wonderful website.xxx
She’s a gorgeous looking dog Suzy. And thank you for sharing your story with us.. Like you, people in similar situations are going to be looking for others stories, so this will really help.
Thanks so much for sharing. What a gorgeous gal! Such a sweet face. I wish more people knew about the injection option for glaucoma in already blind eyes. It’s been great for Louie. Ask your vet when you’re in next why. I’ll do the same. All of us working together on this site will be able to help a lot of dogs and their people. I ❤ Bella
Hi Lanni, I’ve read that some vets are completely against this injection and say that it rarely works and other vets swear by it, Last week Bella had another pressure check and with the injection it was 8 compared to the 87 that it was before the procedure, so I guess the proof is in the pudding!…in Israel this procedure is done almost for all Glaucoma cases with a very high success rate…The only side effect my specialist warned about was that the eye can shrink, did that happen to Louie?
Sorry I didn’t see this post sooner! Yes Louie’s eyes did shrink. Actually, my latest blog post discusses just that subject. http://lifewithblindlouie.blogspot.com/2012/12/that-dogs-eyes-are-rull-weird-lookin.html There is a link to it. Both eyes are a little receded but his left one is worse. No big deal really though. He’s less likely to bump his eye ball when he runs into things because they aren’t so bulgy anymore. I’d be very interested in interviewing you for my blog if you’d like to, email me at lifewithblindlouie@gmail.com. I just finished Barb & Tina’s interview and posted that this morning! Hope to hear from you soon. Lanni
Hi Lanni..How long after the injection did louie’s eyes shrink because its been over a month already and her eye hasn’t shrunk at all!..She’s doing so well after the injection and has had 2 pressure checks since, both times the pressure was at 8!!..I hope it lasts.
That is so awesome! I really didn’t notice it shrinking until about 6 months later at least. Also, it was so gradual I didn’t notice at all at first. It is strange because Louie’s eye’s were so bulgey from the pressure and that was what looked normal to me anyway. I have a picture of Louie that I took abut 2 months after his surgery and his eyes are still very big compared to today, years later. I will post it on your wall here, maybe that will help a little to get a visual of what his eyes looked like shortly after.
So nice to see your sweetie! Yes we need to educate people as to how to help our “babies”. My vet said that it was possible that my Tina’s cataracts could become painful due to their density and hardening with time. Right now, she shows none of that and is doing well. But I have the vet opthamologist phone number in my file!
Barb, take a look at the earthclinic.com site for info on cataracts. There is some interesting information there that might work:
http://earthclinic.com/CURES/cataracts.html
WOW… I am so disappointed in my dog’s opthamologist. My pup Phyllis has/had primary glaucoma. Long story short, both eyes have been removed. Had I even KNOWN about this option, I would have explored it. What’s funny is that I thought I did my homework on the subject too. In the end, she is fine… we are adjusting, but her face without eyes is so very, very sad. I wished this would have been presented to me as an option. I would have seriously considered it.
Am I being to forward by asking how much the procedure cost? I am kicking myself for not finding this info sooner….
It may not have been offered because many vets don’t agree with it as there are indications that it can cause problems down the line. There are very conflicting opinions on it.
Jill, I paid $2,200 for the prosthetic eye, and the laser was $2,900. We paid $1,700 two years ago for her left eye to be removed completely. I think the injection was the least expensive of all these at about $1,200.
We are 4 days post surgery and I had been offered this procedure but the shrinking eye thing, and the fact it may have complications down the line made me decide on the prosthetic eye ball implanted into her exsisting eye. I didn’t want to have to put her through anymore surgeries in the future… What a nightmare so far. Seriously kicking myself for not doing the injection thing too. She had her right eye removed in 2010 and just had to have the left eye removed due to primary glaucoma as well.
So now we are 2-1/2 weeks post surgery and doing much much better. Just saw the vet again for check up and the tech told me that this surgery takes the longest to recover from, has the most after care etc. I’m still not sure I’d pick this particular procedure if given the opportunity again just because of what my poor dog has been through. But I am also glad she has an “eye” that blinks and looks normal. The first surgery went much smoother and easier but then she wasn’t totally blind either. Today she got a little spunky again, with a little spring in her step so all in all, I think we are going to be just fine! The only thing I cannot get over is the fact that if there is an object to run into she will. We are at the park and there is one tree in the whole grassy area and she headed straight for that tree and ran right into it.
LOL, I know that’s not funny at all Mary, but it still made me laugh because that is what would happen with Lucy as well. It wouldn’t matter how much empty space there was, she would find the pole or tree or whatever to hit.
So glad to hear things are going better Mary!! Jill, I’m not sure where you live but my vet was vehemently against the injection, I didn’t press too much afterwards as I trusted her opinion and I know that the 2 opthalmalogists here thought the same thing. I don’t want to freak anyone out that did it at all. Its amazing the differing opinions from country to country too. I guess its just maybe something that won’t be offered in Canada for much longer.
Suzy and others, I just registered for this site today and have no idea how to navigate it! So please be patient with me. I just shared Frankie’s LONG story. Sorry I was so wordy. I thought his history was important background to his anxiety.
I was reading Suzy’s story in Nov 2012 about your Bella. I am sure you know that means beauty in Italian. [I had my Bella for 11 years – lost her last June. She was a Golden and a beauty inside and out.]
How is Bella doing now? I am curious about the injection as my Frankie was just diagnosed with Glaucoma 3 weeks ago. His pressure was 58 and he had lost all site in the eye, not to return, it seems. The various drops brought his pressure down to 11 about 10 days later when he was re-checked. We are on our second week of reduced drops with a check up in 2 months. I think that is too long to go. And now that I read your story and others about Glaucoma treatment, specifically the injection, I wonder if I should get a second opinion. Our ophthalmologist has never mentioned it. Is there any hope that his sight will return? Is the injection a substitute for the drops or additional treatment. Specifically, what does it do? We do fine with Frankie and drops. He is an angel so that is not a problem, luckily. [BTW, his other eye was removed in Nov 2012 due to rare benign tumors above and around his eye socket. So that is no longer an issue.]
The injection is a bit controversial. Some vets will recommend it and others will avoid it like the plague. I know that a couple of people on this site opted for the injection but have had to have the dogs eye removed anyway due to complications.
So this is probably why your vet has not mentioned it.
My puppy is a rescue that was found at 6 weeks old very badly cut up and her eye punctured by some monster. She is now 9 months old and happy and healthy except for the eye…its very bulgy and needs to be on 2 eye drops twice daily. The pressure is 17-23 but the vet thinks this can only cause her trouble through her life. He thinks she should get the steroid/anti-biotic injection or have the eye removed. I can find very little on the long-term success of the injection. I don’t want to put her through the injection (done under anesthesia) and spend the $2000 then have to go and get her eye removed anyway in the end. I don’t believe she is in pain but I really don’t know what to do. Any advice?
From what I have noticed from those on this site who had the injection, is that some time after, they have to have the eye removed anyway. I personally would just go with the eye removal but it is a personal choice and probably something you should discuss in detail with your vet. I usually ask the vet “What would you do if it were your dog? Would you go with the injection or just have the eye removed?”