Veterinary ocular emergencies

The veterinary surgeon is frequently confronted in his practice to ophthalmologic emergencies. The eye is a very sensitive organ because it is very exposed to injuries. It is important to have a good knowledge of the right treatment to carry out because the loss of its functionality involves a serious handicap for the animal. In ocular emergency, it is advised to determine the nature of the lesion and its gravity and the functional forecast of it in order to establish a suitable therapeutic plan. The ocular emergencies concerning the adnexals, the anomalies of positioning of the globe, the anterior segment and the posterior segment of the eye are successively considered in this paper. The emergency care to carry out is described in order to provide the best chances of recovery for the visual functions of the animal. In certain cases, the emergency care consists in setting up the ideal conditions to refer the animal to a specialist in ophthalmology. The techniques, which are carried out in emergency, are often determining for the visual prognosis of the animal.