The soft, expressive equine eye holds a great fascination for horse lovers. And although it's normally a resilient structure, it's not immune from injury. At the 2010 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, held Dec. 4-8 in Baltimore, Md., Dennis Brooks, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVO, a professor of ophthalmology at of the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine, gave this year's Frank J. Milne State-of-the-Art Lecture on catastrophic ocular surface failure (OSF) in the horse, a condition that is most commonly caused by corneal ulcerations. He began by describing how decades ago equine eye injuries were hopeless cases, but that this is no longer true. He proclaimed, "The horse's eye heals incredibly well, although not quickly, and our objective as veterinarians is to learn how to help it heal."

Brooks noted that disease pathogens attacking the equine eye are some of the strongest and most complicated in all of ophthalmology, comparatively with other species. These diseases aren't necessarily powerful because of the infections they cause, but they are enhanced because of the horse's specific neutrophil (a type of white blood cell) response to them.

The Ocular Surface and Response to Injury

An understanding of how the eye works is instrumental in effectively treating and managing ocular injury