The opaque eye: not only cataracts...

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Opaque eye: what you need to know and what is recommended.

Our animals now live in close contact with us and, fortunately, age alongside us. It is, therefore, increasingly common for dog and cat owners to find themselves dealing with the classic diseases of senescence, of which lens opacification is perhaps the best known.

Everyone, in fact, is familiar with the term 'cataract', a disease that is also extremely common in humans and typically (but not only) affects older people. The word 'cataract' derives from a Greek word meaning waterfall or shutter/closure and refers to the idea of something like a veil or water falling more or less suddenly from above, creating like a veil before the eyes. A concept evocative of the blurred vision that the cataract sufferer experiences when the natural lens turns from transparent to opaque.

The owner of every 'pet' watches precisely over this sign: the eye of his four-legged companion goes from transparent and clear to opaque. Here, however, hides the first pitfall, that opacity that identifies cataracts concerns the lens (the crystalline lens) and not the cornea, that transparent membrane that constitutes the outermost layer of the eye, through which we see the colour of the eyes of our loved ones, human and animal.

Technicalities? No, an important difference that everyone can learn to recognise with relative ease. If the cornea becomes opaque, looking at our four-legged friend's eye we will struggle to see the iris, the colour of his eyes, clearly. If the crystalline lens becomes opaque, we will probably see the colour of the eyes clearly and opaque will be the lens, i.e. the space behind the pupil will appear opaque.

The difference is substantial because a sudden opacification of the cornea indicates not a cataract, but a pathology that in many cases requires immediate intervention.

It happened not long ago to a friend, we share a chat that gathers dog lovers of a particular terrier breed. "Since yesterday Teddy's eyes are blurred, he's getting cataracts, I'll have to take him for a check-up". I am a little alarmed, Teddy is no longer young, it is true, but a cataract arising so suddenly, in both eyes, is strange, perhaps she has only just realised it, but what if it is not the lens that she sees as blurred, but rather the cornea? I don't want to frighten her (in chat!), but neither do I want to risk the dog's eyesight, I blandly insinuate doubt, I encourage her to go and have the dog examined: if it is the lens and it is a senile process there is more time, but if it is the cornea better sooner than later! You are a very attentive person, proceed immediately to a specialist examination. Teddy does not have cataracts, but a corneal pathology, a form of degeneration of the endothelium, the treatment is instituted immediately, the eyes are already better after a few days. Waiting would have compromised the prognosis.

Endothelial degeneration is only one of many diseases that can induce corneal opacities, while there are many different types of cataracts. But what are the treatment options that aVeterinary ophthalmology increasingly advanced offers us? We will discuss this in detail in the next 'episodes'.

Prof. Chiara Giudice
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences (DIVAS) - Lodi
President of SOVI (Society of Italian Veterinary Ophthalmology - SCIVAC)

Online in the Veterinary Ophthalmology section