Cowgirl Up on LatigoLiz.com

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Diagnosis: Compromised Vision

Here is Dr. Bob’s official write-up:

Hx (medical abbreviation for history) of possible vision loss which is non-progressive and stable over time. On exam there is moderate microphthalmia OD with reduced menace response and direct PLR (Pupillary light response). Normal consentual PLR OD (Oculus dexter) and reduced and incomplete consentual PLR OS (Oculus sinister). On fundic exam 2-3 bullet hole type chorioretinal lesions are noted in the zone between tapetal and non-tapetal retina. Optic disc appears diffusely pale to yellow with normal vasculature and slightly small diameter compared to left. Margins of the optic disc appear irregular. Normal corneal reflex. All other exam findings are unremarkable.

Based on exam findings some vision loss or compromised vision is expected and congenital retinal hypoplasia is suspected.

So, she is compromised and I have kinda figured that since day one. What it means? Not much. I just now know WHY she behaves in certain ways and I can even be more proactive than I already have been. And I may be able to make her more comfortable about certain things because I am more aware of the reasons why she reacts to certain stimuli.

OK, now I need to get ready to go ride with girlfriends today.

More later (with pictures)!

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6 comments:

Leah Fry said...

Is this a condition or the result of an injury, infection?

Pony Girl said...

Interesting....reading his write-up was like reading a foreign language!
Curious to hear more about the specific situations in which she reacts due to the vision deficits.

gtyyup said...

Gesh...hopefully he explained the condition to you in English!!! I didn't understand a thing he said!

What types of issues is the horse having?

Flying Lily said...

What does it all mean?

n3qtrtme said...

I'm not sure what animal is having the difficulty seeing, but it's definitely an animal. Humans don't have a tapetal retina, which is kind of like a coating inside the eyeball that helps animals see better at night.

What the write up is saying is that the patient has had problems seeing in the past but that it's not getting any worse. The exam showed that when the head is threatened, there is a little less response than normal but that the reaction to light is normal. After looking at the back of the eye (like when you go to the eye doctor and they shine the light in your eyeball and tell you to keep looking straight ahead), Dr. Bob found some odd spots on the back of the eyeball. The front part of the eye (in front of the colored part of your eye, where you'd put a contact lens) looks pretty normal but the right eye is a little smaller than the left with some waviness or unevenness around the edges of the lens. Everything else seems normal.

Basically, it sounds like there was some doubt in Liz's mind whether the animal could see, so she took it to the vet and they found out that the animal probably can't see quite as well out of the left eye as the right, but that it's something they were born with so it shouldn't get any worse.

I hope that helps a little and can't wait to hear how the patient is doing.

LatigoLiz said...

Thank you n3qtrtme. That’s a very accurate interpretation of Dr. Bob's medical jargon describing Buena’s exam!

“The patient” is perfectly normal with the exception of some odds quirks related to the loss of vision in that right eye. There is not really a way to test to see exactly the level of impairment, but we got a pretty good idea of the areas of loss as far as where she can see the best and where she gets surprised by light or movement.

I had a great ride yesterday and that will be the subject of my next post.