Has anyone had problems with recurring non-healing corneal ulcers?

My lab will be 7 years old next month. He had a terrible bout with these ulcers in October 2008. The final solution was a grid-keratotomy and treatment with Cipro and he wore contact lenses for 14 days. That finally healed him. One ulcer was the size of a dime. Both eyes were affected. They were, however, superficial ulcers (not deep). And yes, we are working with a vet opthalmologist on this.

On Friday night I noticed him doing a very slight wink. I watched him Saturday and he did the "wink" on and off but I couldn't see any redness in his eye and the whites looked clear. Sunday morning his eye was red (blood vessels in the white showing) and I started him immediately on the Cipro. Took him to have his eyes stained Monday morning, and he's got another ulcer on his left eye!

We are treated again with Cipro (yes, we used Atropine to dialate for pain) and also Rimadyl for pain and inflammation, and of course the "cone" to prevent him from rubbing.

We do not know a cause for these. My gut feeling is that my other dog's tail is whipping him in the eyes. He is very protective of his eyes and squints a lot when around the other dogs.

I'm at a loss as to how to prevent these. Bobbing my other dog's tails has come to mind (of course I'm kidding..).

Has anyone had experiences similar and can anyone tell me some preventative measures to take to stop these? I am very concerned about the long term effect on the health of his eyes.

Other than his eyes he is very healthy and fit, competes regularly in agility and obedience.

Thanks for any help/advice.

I just wanted to add... the eye doc said the best treatment would be to catch this before the ulcer forms and treat with steroid drops. However, I am presented virtually with NO symptoms before there is an ulcer, he's so stoic!!

Distichiasis can cause corneal ulcers, Distichiasis is a second row of eyelashes growing the wrong direction, it can be one eyelash, or many. It can cause redness and irritation, or may be completely asymptomatic.

Below taken from:
http://searchwarp.com/swa305650.htm

Distichiasis
Distichiasis is an eye related problem in which there is growth of extra eyelashes (cilia) from the glands of either upper or lower eyelid. These eyelashes called distichia may rub on the cornea irritating the eye causing tearing, squinting, inflammation, scarring and corneal ulcers.
Other signs of distichiasis include blood vessel accumulation, pigmentation or dark coloring of the cornea and corneal ulceration. Thorough inspection of the eye is done to check the presence of distichiasis. There are also other tests performed to help diagnose Distichiasis- the Schirmer tear test to check tear production of the eyes and the Fluorescein staining of the cornea to detect any corneal abrasions or ulcers.

Thank you for the information. He has been checked for that and is okay.

my 9 yr old girl has had reoccurring corneal ulcers in both eyes since march. six or seven total.
opthamologist thinks it is dry eye. she is on
optixcare eye lubricant twice a day which seems to work. so far we have healed the ulcers with adequin solution that the opthamologist makes up. eye antibiotics and adequin twice/day. ulcer usually heals completely in 2-3wks. she stops blinking and pawing almost immediately after the adequin is put in the eye.

Thank you for the information. They did test my boy for dry eye and he is producing plenty of tears.

That's why this is so baffling. We cannot find a cause for these. I'm very frustrated and worried.

It can indicate that there is disease somewhere else in the body when they recur. Did you take the dog back for several re-checks after the radial keratonomy was done? One of my dogs(he was 8) had indolent ulcers on both eyes following cement dust getting into his eyes. Cornell did a bang-up job(Dr. Riis) and saw him at least 2 more times before declaring him ulcer-free. They never came back.

Thanks for the information. Yes, he has been seen several times. What do you think was systemically going on with your dog to cause it?

From what I've been told, there is something wrong with his epithelial tissue on the cornea, that it doesn't stick correctly. I've found something similar in Boxers, but again don't know how to prevent this from occurring. I want to be pro-active on this if at all possible, not reactive.

He was in the run in my garage and my husband was laying pavers for a new walk just outside of the garage door. It was warm that day, so I had a fan blowing on the dogs in the kennels and didn't realize my husband had opened the garage door. Thus, the fan was pulling the sand(which is laid in between the pavers)directly into his face! The very next day he had red eyes and they were tearing. His ulcers were a result of injury and once the procedure was done they never came back. In fact, Dr. Riis said they were as good as new and no scars.

Okay. I was thinking you meant something systemic, not injury.

I'm still thinking injury by getting whacked in the face/eyes by my other dog's tail, but can't be 100% sure this is the cause.

Well, yes in some cases if a dog KEEPS getting them then a systemic cause could be the reason. In my dog's case he had an injury and once treated properly they healed. So, if one's dog is treated with the radial keratonomy; is declared healed and then they return repeatedly, I would want to look into the possibility something else is going on too. If there is something the dog is doing to the eyes by perhaps rubbing them on bushes because he itches then he could be causing ulcers, and that would be injury. I am no expert on this. I just happened to have dealt with them one time.

Linda- there must be something going on in that dog other than a physical trauma such as your other dogs' tail hitting him in the eye. First off I would be hard pressed to see another dog's tail as a realistic cause of corneal ulceration in both eyes. But most importantly the fact that these are non-healing ulcers is the indication there is something else going on. If the ulcers were created from a simple physical trauma then they would heal in 4-5 days with basic treatment. There is something else going on which is delaying healing. I would work with your Ophthalmologist and regular veterinarian (or an internist if needed) to see what else might be going on. Off the top of my head I would consider an immune mediated disease (or poor overall immune system). The other ideas mentioned are also good, although you indicate they've been ruled out. Keep looking for an underlying issue- that way you can try to correct it and prevent recurrance! good luck.

I have had this problem myself and was diagnosed with dry eye. Eye drops helped but I would still get the occasional ulcer. A new opthamologist thought maybe a sensitivity to the normal bacteria near the lashline and recommended medicated pads specifically designed to clean the eye lid and lashline. That was two years ago and I haven't had a corneal ulcer since. The name of the product I use is "Eye Scrub" but there are other brands available. Don't know if something like that could be used on dogs. You may want to ask your eye specialist.