Boston Terrier's Cornea Ruptured After a Wasp Sting
by Marilu
(Irondequoit New York)
Reader Question
Last month my 9 month old Boston Terrier was stung in the right eye by a "dirt wasp". The pain for her was horrible. After calming Nellie down I took her to our Emergency Vet Hospital. Vets could not determine what was wrong with Nellie's eye and gave me eye drops and recommended we take her to our regular vet in 3 to 4 days. On Saturday, the swelling went down and I noticed a hole in her cornea. On Sunday the hole was more distinct. Monday morning Nellie rubbed the affected eye and began "screaming" as the eye ruptured and all of the eye contents spilled out of the hole. We immediately took Nellie back to the Emergency Hospital where she was operated on that afternoon. The opthamologist grafted part of her cornea over the hole in the hopes she would retain some of her vision. (No corneas were available and I did not want to remove her eye. (BEAUTIFUL eyes, by the way!) A week later Vet said she had some vision and the eye was healing as hoped. I will take her back at the end of the month for another check-up. At this point, the blood vessels for the graft are growing across the graft to the rest of the cornea. (As expected and hoped for.) I don't believe she has lost all of her sight as she does not bump into anything or anyone on
the affected side. (Prior to surgery she was bumping into everything.) The pain Nellie went through when her eye "BLEW UP!!" was terrible. I wouldn't want to see this again in any of our pets or even people. We have checked our garden and found several more dirt hives that are in the dirt and mulch. This has been an experience that I hope Nellie never has to suffer again. She is a typical happy, active Boston Terrier as is our other Boston puppy Winnie. I hope this doesn't cause serious damage to her wonderful temperment.
Answer from Our Team
We're so sorry Nellie went through this, and glad the graft is healing. Blood vessels growing across a graft are expected and help it heal. Later your ophthalmologist may trim the graft's blood supply or use anti-inflammatory drops, and the vessels usually shrink, though some haze often remains, but many dogs keep useful vision after a graft, especially if the inside of the eye wasn't badly damaged.
Keep all of the ophthalmologist's rechecks, and keep a cone on her if she rubs the eye. Flat-faced breeds like Boston Terriers have prominent eyes that are prone to injury and ulcers, so any future squinting should be checked the same day. A single painful experience like this rarely changes a dog's temperament long term.
Our page on corneal ulcers in dogs explains how deep ulcers are treated.
This is general information, not a diagnosis. Please follow your own vet's advice.
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