Reggie the five-year-old French Bulldog is a real character who is well known to our Wells practice team. Full of enthusiasm and affection, he has bags of personality and throws himself headlong into all his interactions. But Reggie has one big issue – his fear of the vets!

When he first came to us, he hated visiting the practice and wouldn’t let any staff near him, so his dedicated owner wanted to work through a desensitisation programme to enable him to cope better with veterinary visits. Over the years, through multiple socialisation visits, positive reinforcement, muzzle training, and the occasional use of sedative medication to help, we have got to know Reggie very well. He now loves his visits to us, as he always receives lots of fuss and rewards, and he is happy wearing his muzzle so that we can interact with him safely. However, we all know Reggie is still apprehensive and can suddenly panic if it all gets too much. So, when he developed a sore eye at the start of the year, we knew that treatment might be a challenge.

A sore or runny eye is something that we always take seriously. Most often it isn’t a serious issue, but it’s important to carefully rule out any damage to the cornea (surface of the eye) or a problem inside the eye itself, so we need to get up close and personal! Reggie was therefore admitted for sedation straight away so that we could thoroughly examine his eye. We were able to see that the internal structures in his eye looked normal but, by applying a drop of special dye to the eye, we could see a scratch on his cornea. We were also able to have a really good look under his eyelids to make sure there was no grass seed or other foreign body present, and no other cause for the scratch was found.

Reggie’s scratch was small and superficial, of a type which will often heal quite quickly with the right treatment, but complications can occur with these injuries, especially in dogs of his breed type. In addition, we knew that Reggie would need drops applied to his eye and regular re-examinations, so we were concerned that his treatment would be a challenge. His owner felt she should be able to apply the drops when Reggie was happier at home, so we decided to start the treatment, give him pain relief, and monitor his progress.

Initially, all went well. Reggie’s owner was able to apply the drops, and within a few days, his eye seemed to be back to normal. Repeat ‘hands-off’ examinations showed signs of healing, but every time the drops were stopped, he started to get uncomfortable again. He was also getting more difficult to manage with his drops at home – for Reggie, they probably felt a bit too much like a veterinary procedure, so he started to become quite resistant to them, even with his owner’s very patient approach.

We sedated Reggie again and found that his corneal injury had now progressed to a superficial ulcer that was not healing properly. We debrided the ulcer, removing the dead, loose layers of epithelium from around the edge of the lesion, to try to kickstart the healing process, but Reggie would need continued treatment to allow his body to heal the ulcer. We warned his owner that he might need further intervention to encourage this, and there was always a risk that the ulcer could develop a nasty infection, which would be a serious emergency. He went home for his owner to continue trying with the drops, but with further oral pain relief and antibiotic tablets to provide extra support, and his owner was given detailed instructions on the signs to watch for in case of serious complications.

Despite his owner’s best efforts, Reggie became increasingly intolerant of his drops, and we were concerned that the ulcer was getting deeper and might be developing an infection. After discussion within the team, we decided that the best thing for Reggie was a surgical procedure called a Conjunctival Pedicle Graft. This procedure involves taking a section of conjunctiva (the pink membrane lining around the eyeball) to place over the damaged section of cornea. The conjunctival tissue seals and protects the ulcer, provides a blood supply, and supports the structure of the cornea while healing can proceed underneath. The procedure was explained to Reggie’s owner, who was happy to go ahead.

Reggie was admitted to our Shepton surgery the next morning. He was quickly anaesthetised and taken to theatre for his procedure. The ulcer was debrided again, and then a small flap of conjunctiva was loosened and moved into place, using tiny sutures to attach it to the surface of the eye. The graft remained attached to the conjunctiva at the top of the eye in order to preserve its blood supply. Reggie recovered really well from his procedure and went home with continued oral antibiotics and pain relief, with his owner very relieved.

Reggie had regular checks to ensure his eye was healing as it should. He did have to wear a buster collar for many weeks, which he was not very impressed with, but six weeks following his surgery, he was re-examined under anaesthetic, and we found that his cornea had healed really well. The attachment of the graft was cut and the tissue trimmed back, and finally, Reggie’s treatment was complete. He was left with a section of pink tissue visible on the surface of his eye, but this should gradually fade with time to leave just a faint scar.

What started for Reggie as just a scratch became a real saga, as can happen with eye problems. Every patient and case has their own individual challenges, but we were able to navigate the right path for Reggie in the end to achieve a good result – thankfully due to the absolute dedication and commitment of his owner, who worked so hard with his treatments at home for so long. He’ll certainly be glad to have a break from his vet visits for a while!