Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Dr. Brenda Culver, our primary care vet in Helena who is also our resident eye expert, performed surgery on blind Widget’s glaucoma eye this afternoon.  She removed the internal part of Widget’s left eye — the cornea, lens, iris, etc. — and implanted a prosthesis inside the globe of her eye.  This will give Widget the appearance of a ‘normal’ eye while eliminating the painful pressure.  I took this photo of Widget this morning, before Alayne drove her to Helena for the surgery.

Brenda (pictured here) called this evening with good news.  The operation was routine and Widget’s recovery from anesthesia was uneventful.  She said Widget will need to wear a cone on her head for the next two weeks, and once we’re past three weeks, the chances of Widget’s body rejecting the prosthetic will drop dramatically.  Of course, we’ll be on pins and needles until we reach that point.

I had asked Brenda to take photos of the prosthesis itself, and that’s what you see here.  Brenda e-mailed this photo tonight.  This fits inside the globe — the white part of the eye.  In Widget’s case, this was an alternative to enucleation, or complete removal of the eye, and as a surgical procedure, it costs about the same.  If all continues to go well, little Widget will still look pretty much like she did this morning.

Widget is resting comfortably and hopefully we’ll be able to pick her up tomorrow afternoon.  We’ll keep you posted.