Ocular emergencies

35 Ocular emergencies


Ocular emergencies are relatively common and represent some of the conditions with which many clinicians are both least familiar and confident. Serious ocular disorders should be treated as true emergencies as delayed management may in some cases result in permanent loss of vision or of an eye; many of the emergency conditions are also associated with pain that is often severe and must be addressed as quickly as possible. Referral to a more highly qualified ophthalmologist is appropriate in many instances and part of the role of the primary clinician is to differentiate the cases that require urgent referral from those in which more delayed referral may be acceptable. The primary clinician should be familiar with appropriate stabilization and early treatment that may be required prior to referral.



Clinical Tip



• In the author’s experience, it can be difficult to arrange emergency referral to an ophthalmologist in the evenings and on weekends. However, a number are happy to provide telephone advice and this may be facilitated to an extent by making use of increasingly available technologies to send high quality photographs.

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Sep 3, 2016 | Posted by in SMALL ANIMAL | Comments Off on Ocular emergencies

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