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| If one wishes to dilate the eye for examination, a short acting mydriatic such as tropicamide is used. It is easy to draw up the required amount of mydriatic into a TB syringe, break off the needle, and then direct a fine stream across the horses cornea or, if the horse does not like a stream directed across its eye, an alternative is to use the TB syringe to drop the medication into the medial fornix.. Frequently it is more difficult to administer medication by drops directly from the bottle, and contamination of the bottle is also likely. |
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| If one needs to stain the cornea, one can use Rose Bengal and/or Fluorescein strips. Fluorescein strips are more commonly used, and will stain areas where there is loss of epithelium. Rose Bengal will stain areas with devitalized epithelium, as well as reveal where epithelium is lost. Either strip should be held against the conjunctiva, or alternatively, the strip can be wetted with sterile saline and then the solution can be dropped across the eye. As the strip can be somewhat irritating if placed directly on the cornea, direct corneal contact should be avoided. If one suspects decreased tear production, a Schirmer tear test should be performed. A Schirmer tear test strip is folded and applied just inside the lower lid so that it hangs vertically. The wetting of the strip (which has mm markings along its length) by tears can be directly observed and measured for a given time. Both eyes should be compared. Normal horses and ponies tear at least 15mm/60secs. |
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