Newborn foal with entropion: any experience with this, words of wisdom?

[JoZ]

My friend's mare had a foal this morning. Gestation was 326 days. He has entropion (inverted eyelid/eyelashes) in both eyes. I have googled and saw that it is associated with premature foals; don't know if 326 days is considered premature. He had "slippers" on his hooves but in no other regard does he seem premature. All other vital signs are good.

The vet injected saline into one eyelid to poof it up temporarily. She said that sometimes that is enough to get it to stay in the correct position, and if it doesn't it will at least stop the irritation of his eye. She did not inject the other one because it is so painful to do (needle in eyelid... yee-ouch!). She will do it later if it seems to help the first eye. She put ointment in both eyes to reduce irritation.

Have you had foals with entropion? What did you do for it? Did it correct without surgery? Did it correct without any intervention, or did you do injections or other treatment? Thanks for any insight, reassurance, etc.

[Texarkana]

The entropion is not that big of a deal in most cases. It usually corrects itself on its own. You can apply a suture to the lid to flip it back out and reduce the irritation of the eye. I personally don't know a single foal that needed it corrected with anything more than sutures and maybe a simple incision, and we saw it a lot in the NICU.

I'd be more worried about other associated conditions that you CAN'T readily see-- incomplete calcification, potential sepsis, etc.

Thinking good thoughts for your friend's foal. :)

[YankeeLawyer]

Below is an article I found re the condition. The web page has photos and illustrations.

http://www.myhorse.com/health/emergency/entropion_an_occasional_eye_problem_in_foals.aspx# top


Entropion: An Occasional Eye Problem in Foals
Story by Dr. Frank Santos DVM


This photo illustrates a classic entropion. The eyelashes of the lower lid are rolled in and in contact with the cornea of the eye.
Entropion is a problem sometimes seen in newborn foals where the lower eyelid is rolled inward toward the globe of the eye. The entropion itself is often temporary and not difficult to correct in horses. But if left uncorrected, the entropion can cause serious secondary problems to the cornea of the horse's eye. The problem results from the irritating or abrasive effects of the eyelashes contacting the cornea.

The first thing you may notice in the way of symptoms would be tears spilling down a foal’s face from the irritation. It is important to restrain the foal and manually open the lids to look for any cloudiness or ulceration of the normally smooth and clear cornea. If you see any signs of the cornea being affected, you have a potentially serious problem that needs immediate attention. The treatment in this case involves antibiotic ophthalmic ointment applied to prevent deep ulceration or rupture of the cornea from an infection of the ulcer, as well as correcting the inverted eyelid.

Correcting the inversion of the affected lid can range from something as simple as just manually rolling the eyelid to its normal position, to surgically correcting the abnormality. Surgically correcting the lid abnormality is a fairly simple procedure I do on the farm with the foal under a short-acting anesthetic.


This illustration shows how you correct an entropion.

The lid is corrected to its normal position and a thin line of tissue dissected along a line just below the lid margin. Then I suture that line closed with a thin suture material. Tissue in this area has good blood supply and usually heals very quickly. If there is no damage to the cornea, correction of the inverted lid is all that’s necessary.


I see this condition fairly regularly, in about one out of every 50 foals in my practice area. It’s a condition that, once you’ve seen it, you’re not likely to miss it in evaluating a foal. Like a lot of conditions, the earlier it’s noted the less likely it is to cause any serious problems.

Other conditions that can cause similar eye problems in foals are foreign bodies in the conjunctival space around the eye or trauma that scratches the corneal epithelium.

[can't re-]

I had a foal with this. My vet injected ~3cc of penicillin into multiple places. The lid was poofy for a few days and was totally fine afterwards.

[Edgewood]

My colt had it last year in both eyes, although it lasted longer in 1 eye than the other. I had to manually roll the lid back into place about 3 to 4 times per day the first 3 to 4 days. After that, only 1 eye needed it once or twice in the next few days. In total I had to do it for less than a week and then his eye sockets bulged out more so that he didn't get entropian any more (ie, foals have not much width between their eye sockets across their forehead vs adults)

[Thomas_1]

It's not uncommon in a youngster. It often rights itself within months. If it doesn't the foal can have a minor op to correct it.

[talleyho24]

I also would be more concerned with what you dont see with respect to the incomplete calicification-collapse of the tarsal bone it is not fixable after the fact.

[Sugarbrook]

My barn manager had one of her mares foal and the foal had the same problem. The vet fixed it and that was that!! No more issues.

[ahf]

I had a foal with a mild case of this last year. THe vet super-glued the eyelid back to a small degress. By the time the superglue gave, the problem was rectified.

I had seen this before in other foals, and the vet did a small stitch to keep it out of the way. THe superglue was new to me.

[clint]

I had an entropian foal a couple of years ago. Both eyes were involved, and my vet corrected it quickly with a couple of sutures; leaving it to correct itself can result in ulcerated eyes. This foal was full term, the sutures actually removed themselves, and there have been no issues at all from it.

[K~2]

I had a foal with this. My vet injected ~3cc of penicillin into multiple places. The lid was poofy for a few days and was totally fine afterwards.

I had a filly one year with this condition, and my vet did the exact same thing using penicillin.

I was a little leery at first :o, but it worked wonderfully!

[JoZ]

I'd be more worried about other associated conditions that you CAN'T readily see-- incomplete calcification, potential sepsis, etc.

I also would be more concerned with what you dont see with respect to the incomplete calicification-collapse of the tarsal bone it is not fixable after the fact.

OK, now I'm relatively relaxed about the entropion but disturbed by these (quoted) posts. Where did this come from? What brought this up? Was it the mention of "slippers"? I see them frequently even in full-term foals and don't consider them a cause for concern? Or are you basing it on the 326-day gestation? I guess I'm just confused as to what was said in MY post to elicit these replies?

[Signature]

Our dummy colt last year had this as well. They took a stitch and tacked the lid back at NC State while he was there, and cut the stitch after a few days. He had no issues from it! :)

[Leigh]

My horse had this 17years ago when he was a foal.
His was caused from bumping into the wall trying to stand up.
As others have said all it needed was a stitch to stop the irritation of the eyelashes scratching his eyes and all was well.
However just a word of warning if your vet puts the foal under heavy sedation to stitch...sedate the mare first and move her ....as my mare went ballistic because she thought her foal had suddenly died when he wasn't moving anymore!..it took a miracle to stop my mare trampling in panic on her foal while the vet and me were trying to calm her down while protecting the foal...all was well but a very scary moment for all concerned.. and a lesson learned :-)

[Texarkana]

OK, now I'm relatively relaxed about the entropion but disturbed by these (quoted) posts. Where did this come from? What brought this up? Was it the mention of "slippers"? I see them frequently even in full-term foals and don't consider them a cause for concern? Or are you basing it on the 326-day gestation? I guess I'm just confused as to what was said in MY post to elicit these replies?

Entropion is often secondary to more serious underlying conditions-- sepsis, dummy foals, prematurity/dysmaturity. Not always, but frequently enough. That's where my quote is coming from. I'm not trying to be a pessimist here. I'd just keep a very close watch over the foal if it were me. :)

[Dudeseternalmister]

A colt of mine had the same thing two years ago. Vets said either to inject the eyelids to poof them out or have the eyelid tacked back. By the time I made arrangements to get him some place to have it done it corrected itself. All the mean while I was putting ointment in his eyes so he didn't get any ulcers and continued a few weeks after it had corrected itself too. I have never heard of it being a side affect from having a dummy foal, but I guess it's possible. I do know it's also more prevelant in some breeds over others and some lines in pedigrees over others too. Good luck in correcting it!!!

[Indy-lou]

It's not a big deal in horses. One year in this area there were multiple cases and vet said he had never seen any in his entire career. One case injected penicillin: result fine. Next case super glue: result fine. Last case didn't opt for the vet at all and righted itself. Sheep people will cull breeding stock that produces entropion, however.

[Oakstable]

I got talked into inducing labor on an older mare so that the vet could be there.

The foal had this problem, along with the worst case of knock knees I have ever seen.

I bought the mare in foal, but the foal was to go back to the seller so I don't know how he turned out.

The eye problem resolved. The owner intended to do a stripping surgery on the front legs.

Lesson learned: the mare will foal when she is ready!

[Fairview Horse Center]

We have seen this a few times. Once, it was treated with sutures. It didn't hold, but then a PPG injection, just under the skin on the lower lid worked fine. Another time we did the PPG injection a couple of times, and that did not work for more than a day or 2, so the vet used a few staples to keep the lid back. The only time it was a problem is the premature colt that was at the hospital, but it had not been treated for a week(+?-). Not sure why no one noticed, but the eyelashes had scratched the eyes (both). It was finally stitched back, and we kept tri-op ointment in the eyes for a few weeks after he came home. The eyes did heal to normal, thankfully.

The Superglue sounds like a great option. I am hearing more and more use of that. Pretty cool!

[Spring]

I suppose it depends on the degree of the problem but two years ago my filly had entropian and I just had to roll the eyelid into proper position and put in some opthalmic ointment. It was then I realized how nice it is to have nurses among the boarders: they all helped with the eyelid treatments and the problem was resolved in a little over a week. I would resist doing glue or stitches until I had tried all of the manual corrections first! This ame filly was walking up as though contracted but all resolved within the week. Good luck!

[talleyho24]

I did not mean to sound like a pessimist either,but I am learning to become one. I just learned, many years after the fact, that my long ago windswept colt who straightened up wonderfully after 8 weeks confined had soft bones and grew up with a collapsed tarsal bone in one hock. He has never been lame, he is beautiful and I ony found out by accident. His future as my performance horse is of course now uncertain. I never knew in all my readings about windswept foals that might be a concern. I was mistaken and the effects are real and profound for his future.

[sid]

I had a filly with this problem also. One eye only. She was full term and had no other problems. PennG injection in the lid didn't do the trick. Had to suture a couple of days later. Fixed everything without incident.

But I've gotta say for all the things I've had to deal with, medically, with foals this procedure really scared me as she was a fighter. I'm pretty tough and have pretty much done/see it all, but watching the vet head for her eye with a needle just made me cringe.