Eye problem - Page 1

This is a photo of my 10 year old female GSD, she has recently developed this arc shaped pale blue line on her left iris, the eye has also started to shrink back into the socket. She has seen my vet who who "thinks " it may have been a foreign body scar, does not take up fluroscine dye? I an thinking he is incorrect.

She is on Amacin ointment x 2 daily, contains ...  Neomycin and prednisolone. I am hoping the eye specialist will be doing his country run soon as I would like her to see him. Anyone got any ideas as to what this could be? Would be most grateful.

It looks like corneal dystrophy to me which may or may not be serious in a GSD. I would probably take this dog to an opthalmologist to be sure. My second GSD developed a unilateral corneal dysptrophy almost overnight and it disappeared about as quickly as it appeared without treatment. Eye conditions can be minor or serious so I would err on the side of caution and get an opinion from an expert. My concern would be that the eye appears to be changing shape, that's not common with dystrophy as far as I know. Dystrophies can take on many shapes including crescent and are usually, but not always, bilateral and have an irredescent, shimmering look. 

Here's a link to some information about corneal dystrophies http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/eyes/c_dg_corneal_dystrophies?page=2

I'm not sure that every form of this is genetic in GSD's. CERF doesn't know either as they will certify GSD's with stromal CD. In other breeds they will not because there is a genetic component involved with all forms. 

Thank you Blitzen, I do believe I can see a very fient arc on her right eye also, talk about country vets, they are bloody hopeless, I knew that something serious was happening, The left eye definately has some reshaping, that is what drew me to check in the first place, I thought that it was swollen but it is actually receeding as well.

Thank you for the link.

Blaze has an appointment to see an opthalmologist on Tuesday, just hope that it isn't too serious we lost her litter brother just 4 weeks ago after he failed to respond to treatment for anal furunculosis, aged 10 years.

Aw, dogshome9, I'm so sorry to hear about her brother...that damn condition is so tough to keep in check sometimes, and it takes so much out of the dog's immune system when it's fighting it, too.  RIP, good boy, your people and your pack will miss you.

Glad you were able to get an appt w/the opthamologist so quickly--sometimes it can take weeks and weeks to be seen. Blaze doesn't seem like she's bothered by it, from the photo of her, as she's not squinting or trying to turn her head away from the light, so that's a good sign. Sending good thoughts your way that this is just something minor and inconsequential that created worry for you, as if you needed something like that to do for several weeks.

Well Blaze does have Corneal Dystrophy but she also has another  worse, problem gold/brown pigment spots in both irises..that may become cancerous but the opthamologist felt that at 10 years old she may die from something else before these pose any problem, she has been dispensed Tacrolimus though and that was 1 of the treatments her brother Cuba trialed for his Anal Furunculosis. What does concern me is the fact that her brother and her both have/had an auto immune disease, Cuba was never used at stud but Blaze does have puppies from 3 litters out there.

Good to hear it's nothing more serious than corneal dysptophy, but I understand your concern about the autoimmune issue. Often times issues like that don't come to light until after the dog has already produced progeny, so don't beat yourself up over that. You did the best you could have possibly done at the time.