If your senior dog has eyesight issues and has been diagnosed with cataracts by a veterinarian, one potential treatment option is intraocular lens implantation performed by a veterinary ophthalmology specialist. At Animal Eye Clinic of Pensacola, we specialize in procedures that can correct problems with your pet’s eyes. Read on to learn more about this procedure performed by our veterinary ophthalmology specialist.
What Your Veterinarian Wants You To Know About Your Dog’s Cataracts
You may be asking yourself how or why your undeserving pup-at-heart had contracted cataracts in the first place. In most cases, a cataract problem results from a genetic defect inherited from the parents. Some breeds are even more prone to forming eyesight-damaging cataracts than others.
In other rarer cases, the formation of a cataract may be caused by direct head trauma, a result of a disease called diabetes mellitus, or may simply be just a factor of old age.
Most people know what a cataract looks like. A cataract involves the lens of the eyeball, which is just under the cornea and iris. Opacification, or excessive cloudiness, of the eye’s natural lens, makes it difficult for incoming light to travel to the back of the eye where the retina lies.
Just like humans, if there is very little to no light making it through to the retina, there is no way for the brain to be electrically stimulated into interpreting what your dog is supposed to be seeing.
Dependent on the cause of the cataract, the disease may develop quickly or progress more slowly. The faster your dog’s veterinarian catches the beginning stages of cataracts, the higher the success rate of attempted correction of the problem.
Benefits and Risks of Intraocular Lens Implantation Vet Procedure
The success rate of intraocular lens implantation is between 85 and 90 percent on average. As high as this average percentage is, there is still some risk with any type of invasive surgery.
These risks include excessive inflammation of the eye, corneal edema, secondary glaucoma, retinal detachment, and permanent blindness and will be discussed and evaluated with you by your veterinary ophthalmology specialist.
Schedule an Appointment with Our Veterinarian for Intraocular Lens Implantation in Pensacola
If you are looking for a pet eye doctor to perform intraocular lens implantation in Pensacola, FL, contact Animal Eye Clinic today. Call us at (850) 860-4160 for more information or to schedule an appointment with our veterinarian.