Eyes are the windows to the soul. This seems especially true when you are drawn into the deep eyes of a horse. Horses have very expressive eyes. Most of us have spent time just gazing into them.
What happens then when a horse is suffering from the painful condition of Equine Recurrent Uveitis (ERU). This is the most common eye disease and cause of blindness in horses. It is a horrible disease. It is also known as Moon blindness. It is an immune-mediated disease and it is progressive. We don’t know the exact cause. Leptospira, a bacteria, has been linked to it, however, it isn’t present in all cases.
Diagnosis is difficult because it looks like most other eye diseases. Treatment is also disappointing. Current practices involve steroidal eye ointment, NSAIDs, protecting the eye from light and waiting. Some recommend removing the affected eye in an effort to save the other eye.
What if I told you there is another way to treat this horrible disease? A way that gives your horse comfort while maintaining the vision longer than with conventional medicine.
There is. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs will treat ERU very effectively. Controlling outbreaks when they happen and giving your horse better quality of life and retaining vision longer.
In Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM), the Liver is involved with eye diseases. This doesn’t mean your horse has liver disease. TCVM looks at patterns that cause excess or deficiency and the disease that comes from this. Western medicine, the usual form of medicine, looks at and treat symptoms. Often these overlap, sometimes, you just have to go with it. ERU is caused when there are heat and stagnation in the liver. This heat moves up to the eye and disease happens. The eyelids become swollen, red and inflamed. The horse is very sensitive to sunlight. The eyes are tearing and the sides of the horse’s face can become crusted with discharge. Goals of TCVM therapy are to clear the heat from the Liver and eye, remove the stagnation and pain and clear the eyes. This is done with acupuncture needles placed in points around the eye and other points involving the liver to drain the heat away. There are different prescription Chinese herbs to help with these therapy goals too. One is an oral medicine that is fed twice daily as long as needed, up to 3 months at a time. The other is a topical medication for the eye.
Usually, when I use these therapies, affected eyes will look much better in as little as 12 hours. The horses experience pain relief and decreased sensitivity. The eye stops tearing and the eyelids return to normal soon after too. I have found that these horses don’t have as many episodes as previously and the
episodes are not as severe.
