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Here's What You Should Know About 'cherry Eye,' A Malady In Dogs That Causes Red Spot
My dog, Stewie, has had his fair share of eye issues over the years, and although he is one of the breeds more susceptible to developing it, we have not had to deal with cherry eye. However, I've encountered dozens of dogs with the malady over the years as an animal shelter volunteer.
A cherry eye is actually a prolapsed gland of the third eyelid. This is hereditary, with certain breeds predisposed to it. It is most often seen in younger dogs. Breeds prone to developing cherry eye include: beagles, Boston terriers, bulldogs, cocker spaniels, Lhasa apso, poodles, pugs, shih tzus and other flat-nosed breeds. Burmese cats are also at risk.
Every third eyelid contains a gland in the deeper part of the membrane and hidden under the lower lid. Its purpose, among other things, is to produce tears that provide moisture.
The third eyelid's gland can become dislodged or prolapsed from its normal location and bulge into the inner corner of the eye creating a small, swollen, pink or red mass. This condition is said to be caused by weak tissue fibers failing to hold the gland in place. One or both eyes can be affected.
Cherry eye is often easy to diagnose because of its appearance and is generally considered to be highly treatable. It is important to treat cherry eye sooner rather than later as leaving it untreated can cause inflammation and infection of the gland.
An untreated cherry eye can also result in damage to the tear duct and cause chronic dry eye. In addition, the gland may become increasingly swollen over time and restrict blood flow. This can be quite uncomfortable for pets and can lead to rubbing or scratching at the eye, which can cause further damage and even vision loss.
The treatment involves the careful replacement of the gland in its normal position. Following the surgery, medications will be prescribed to prevent infection and relieve any swelling or discomfort. Healing time is usually 10 to 14 days and the pet will need to wear an e-collar during this time.
In most cases, the gland returns to normal within a few weeks of surgery. However, a small percentage of pets may experience a re-prolapse of the third eyelid gland and require additional surgery.
Since cherry eye is a hereditary condition, there nothing can be done to prevent it. If the family pet is a breed that is predisposed to cherry eye, pay close attention for any signs of swelling near the pet's lower eyelid.
The eyes are delicate so it is best to see a veterinarian should anything unusual happen with the eyes.
Traci D. Howerton is the volunteer manager for Animal Rescue New Orleans, a nonprofit, volunteer-based, no-kill shelter. For more information on ARNO, visit www.Animalrescueneworleans.Org.
What You Need To Know About Eye Redness
Now let's explore the different causes of eye redness. For each one, we'll cover what it is, what causes it, and any other additional symptoms to be aware of.
AllergiesAllergies can affect the eyes, leading them to become red and swollen. Other symptoms that you may experience include:
Eye allergy symptoms can also be accompanied by other allergy symptoms, such as sneezing and an itchy, running nose.
Some common allergy triggers include:
Dry eyesTears are made by small glands above the eyes. They work to help protect and lubricate the eyes. You have dry eyes when your eyes don't produce enough tears.
Dry eyes are very common, with studies estimating a prevalence rate of between 5 to 50 percent. The condition is more likely to occur in women, people over the age of 50, and individuals who wear contact lenses.
If you have dry eyes, you may notice that your eyes appear red. Other symptoms include:
ConjunctivitisConjunctivitis happens when the membrane covering the insides of your eyelids and the white part of your eye, called the conjunctiva, becomes inflamed. This condition is also called pink eye.
Inflammation of the conjunctiva causes the whites of your eyes to appear pink or red in color. Some other symptoms that may occur with conjunctivitis are:
Conjunctivitis can have a variety of causes, including:
Conjunctivitis due to a viral or bacterial infection is very contagious. That means that it can easily be spread from one person to another.
BlepharitisBlepharitis is when your eyelids become inflamed. It can cause your eyelids or eyes to appear red and swollen.
Some additional symptoms of blepharitis are:
It's also possible for blepharitis to cause more serious symptoms, particularly if not managed. These can include things like loss of eyelashes, eyelashes that grow in the wrong location, or blurred vision.
Blepharitis can happen if you have high amounts of bacteria on your eyelids. The condition may also develop if oil glands in your eyelids become clogged. A mite infestation can also cause blepharitis in rare cases.
UveitisUveitis is inflammation that happens in the middle part of your eye, called the uvea. The uvea is an area found between the white of your eye and your retina.
Inflammation due to uveitis can lead to eye redness. Additional symptoms to look out for are:
There are a few known causes of uveitis, including:
Getting timely treatment for uveitis is vital. This is because the condition can lead to vision loss if not managed.
ScleritisScleritis is when inflammation affects the white of your eye, which is called the sclera. When this occurs, the white of your eye can become red and swollen. Additional symptoms can be:
The development of scleritis is often associated with an autoimmune disease. Examples include:
It's also possible for scleritis to happen due to an injury to the eye or an eye infection.
Subconjunctival hemorrhageSometimes, a blood vessel in an eye can break, leaking blood on the surface of your eye This is called a subconjunctival hemorrhage.
The condition may look serious, but it's often benign and goes away on its own in 1 to 2 weeks. Typically, the redness in the affected eye is the only symptom, although in some cases, your eye may feel slightly irritated.
However, if you have subconjunctival hemorrhage and your vision is decreased, talk with a doctor.
Some potential causes of subconjunctival hemorrhage are:
You may be more prone to this condition if you're taking blood thinners or have diabetes or hypertension.
Eyelid styeA stye is a blockage of the meibomian gland in the eye that causes inflammation. It can affect the outside or inside of either your upper or lower eyelid.
If you have a stye, the area at the edge of your eyelid can become red, swollen, and painful. The affected area may fill with meibum (due to the blocked gland) and can potentially grow to the size of a pea.
Angle-closure glaucomaGlaucoma is a condition where the pressure in your eye increases due to the eye producing more fluid than the normal rate. This can damage your optic nerve, potentially leading to vision loss.
There are different types of glaucoma. In one type, called angle-closure glaucoma, a rapid increase in eye pressure occurs. You may also see this type of glaucoma called closed-angle glaucoma or narrow-angle glaucoma.
The symptoms of angle-closure glaucoma come on suddenly and may include eye redness. Other symptoms to be aware of are:
Angle-closure glaucoma happens when your iris blocks the area through which eye fluid drains. Fluid begins building up in the eye, leading to a rapid increase in eye pressure. This type of glaucoma is an emergency and can lead to vision loss if you don't seek treatment right away.
Corneal ulcersCorneal ulcers are ulcers, or sores, that affect the outer part of your eye, which is called the cornea. This condition is also called keratitis.
In addition to red eyes, other symptoms of a corneal ulcer are:
There are several things that can cause corneal ulcers to develop:
It's important to seek timely medical attention if you have symptoms of a corneal ulcer. If not managed, this condition can permanently damage your vision.
InjurySustaining an injury that affects your eye may cause it to become red, often due to irritation or bleeding. Other symptoms that may occur with an eye injury are:
A few examples of common sources of eye injuries include:
Individuals who wear contact lenses have to touch their eyes and the surrounding area more often than those who don't wear contact lenses. As such, they're at an increased risk of eye redness due to a variety of factors. Some of these include:
In addition to eye redness, some symptoms of complications related to contact lenses are:
If you wear contact lenses and have any of the symptoms above, remove your contacts for a few hours. If your symptoms continue or become worse, contact an eye doctor.
Additional causes of eye rednessIn addition to the causes discussed above, some further causes of eye redness include:
The Girl With The Pink Glasses: Bright Eyes, Hiding In Ukraine's Shadows
There was a glisten in her eyes. The girl with the pink hat stood, smiling, with pink glasses and a coat zipped up tight against her neck. She ran to greet us and sang loudly, from the heart. A Ukrainian girl, perhaps 10 or 11 years old, hiding in a Safe House.
She's still in hiding.
On Dec. 18, 2022, my three friends and our volunteer partners, in a crowded van, followed our two large delivery trucks as they rounded a curve on a snowy, unmarked, and unplowed road on the dark, Ukrainian hillside. Not much plowing happens during a war. The local road signs were missing, to encumber the invaders. Tonight, Putin's assault on the area's electric grid meant that the landscape was dead dark. Our headlights revealed only the occasional house perched closest to the road.
Our partners, our translator, and the four of us bumped along. Through the van's steamy windows, we watched one of our trucks slow, then slide into a deep, snowy ditch, flopped sideways like the trees leaning in the cold wind. We piled out and in Ukrainian, Polish, and English we hurriedly offered suggestions and strategies to right the truck; there was lots of arm waving and shouted directions. Several attempts were made, but to no avail.
We were less than a kilometer from the Safe House where more than 130 Ukrainian children were hiding from Russian kidnapping and bombing. Many of the children were from the Kharkov region, having spent three days traveling by train, sent by their mothers to this snowy refuge. Our trucks carried more than two tons of food, generators, and sleeping bags for these dear children. Yet, after traveling from New Hampshire, with less than a kilometer to go, our truck flopped haphazardly in the snow.
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But. Through the snowy night, the people in the dark homes along the nearby hillsides saw the oddly-angled, stationary headlight beams. A dark night. In a war zone. Who might these travelers be? In a leap of faith, anonymous Ukrainians disembarked from their hidden homes with ropes and chains and a small truck and car. They came to help. They pulled and pushed, shouting in three languages. Tires spun, and we were, at last, righted. Smiles and hugs ensued; the universal language of a challenge conquered.
We turned onto the unmarked driveway and approached the large, Stalin-esque building. It stood dark except for the warm, flickering light of candles and the occasional blue light of a cell phone flashlight. We approached the entryway and found the snowy floors inside the doors were slippery and the damp, cold cement walls confirmed our fears. These children were living without electricity or heat. In Ukraine. In a war. In winter.
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Kids came running to see the visitors, to enjoy the excitement of our Santa hats and foreign voices. We brought tons of food, staples for the winter, sleeping bags for every child and two generators. We also brought the luxury of sweets, Beanie Babies, and warm coats. They sang, laughed at and with us, and a few of the kids tested their rudimentary English skills. We talked of their homes, families, and the war. We brought them food, warmth and love, from a faraway land, from the United States.
One girl caught my eye with her bright pink glasses and matching hat. She had a broad, bright smile and a glisten in her eye. She sang boldly the Ukrainian anthem, from her heart, she laughed and spoke with us, using a few halting words of English. I snapped a quick video of her toothy smile, pink hat and large glasses. Singing in the dark.
We spoke with the brave women who cared for these un-homed children hiding in a war. Twenty-five children had traveled from a village near Kharkov with four mothers, protectors of a villages' progeny, its future. Our hearts broke for these children and their families, but it was growing late and there was another safe house in the next village down the road. It was still snowing and they were waiting for us. With hugs and well wishes, we were off.
On Dec. 17, 2023 we returned to the same Safe House we had visited in December 2022. This time, we arrived on a blue bird day. The roads were clear; it was sunny and unseasonably warm for December in Ukraine. The war still raged and kids were still hiding. Our trucks were laden, again, with more than a ton of food and other essentials. We bounded into the building we had visited a year earlier, this time carrying Beanie Babies, soccer balls, and gifts.
I stopped in my tracks. There she stood. Smiling broadly. The pink glasses. The matching hat. The glisten in her eye. My heart split in two. Half of it lifted to see her familiar smile; she was still safe. Half of it sank to realize that a year later, here she stood. Hiding. Hoping. A year later.
I grabbed my phone and pulled up our Common Man for Ukraine nonprofit website. I showed her the video we had taken of her exactly a year earlier in exactly this place. "Look," I said! "It's you! Do you remember us from last year? Here is a photo and video of you! Do you remember?" Of course she did. We were a highlight of a year in hiding. Of course she remembered our Santa hats and our songs, our gifts, the new sleeping bag, and the food that had lasted for weeks.
As a mom, I was flooded with the realization of all the life that had passed her by in those past 365 days. I considered all that had been stolen from her – the ballet lessons and play dates, bedtime stories and family dinners, trips to the mall with her giggling girlfriends, cooking with her mom, outings with her dad and all the peace-time benchmarks of a pre-teen, pre-war life. And then I was consumed by all the terrible, horrible no-good things she carried instead – fear, heartbreak, sadness, worry, war, air raid sirens, the sounds of distant bombing, news of neighbors and friends' fathers being killed in the war, and likely the ever-present questions about her own mother and father. Was her home still standing? Was the school still there? And what became of her pet rabbit?
What happens to a child hiding in war? How does she process the death and destruction of her storybook life? How does she think about the future? How does she dream about a life stolen by an invader from another land? How does she set their sights on a future when all of it – the who, where, and how – are so unknown?
Common Man for Ukraine does what we can, continuing our semi-monthly food deliveries and our monthly trauma counseling retreats for children whose fathers have been killed in the war, a heartbreaking and inspiring program helping kids take the first steps in their healing journeys. Truck by truck, safe house by safe house, pallet by pallet, broken heart by broken dreams we meet these kids across Ukraine and do what we can. Food, warmth, trauma counseling, love.
For my friend with the pink hat, it has been over a year in hiding. For the hundreds of thousands of children of war, it has been almost two years of air raid sirens and bombing, bomb shelters, loss, and fear. These dear children are carrying burdens too large for their tiny frames and brave hearts. We are laser-focused on helping these children of war. We must all must support Ukraine's freedom and democracy. We must ensure that these children rise up, strong and confident, independent and strong, to rebuild Ukraine. Join us in calling for peace, and in working towards a better future for these children.
Susan Mathison co-founded the New England-based grassroots nonprofit CommonManForUkraine.Org, leads her local Habitat for Humanity affiliate, and worked for 30 years at the USDA Forest Service. Susan and her fellow volunteers have made eight humanitarian aid trips to Ukraine, delivering more than 900 tons of food to child safe houses and operating a monthly residential trauma counseling program for Ukrainian children who have lost at least one parent in the war.
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