Horses are no different from people or other animals in their susceptibility to diseases affecting the eye.  Some of the more common eye diseases (uveitis, cataracts, glaucoma) have been identified in horses for many centuries.  Fortunately advances in comparative medicine enable us to identify and successfully treat conditions which even twenty years ago would not have be feasible.

The commonest diseases which we see in Texas affecting horses are eye injuries, corneal ulcers, fungal infections of the cornea (fungal keratitis), equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) and its complications (notoably glaucoma, retinal detachment, and lens dislocation), cataracts, and tumors of the eye and its surrounding tissues. 

Other diseases seen with less frequency are conjunctivitis, developmental problems (start during development of the eye in utero), inflammatory consitions of the cornea (keratitis) and retinal degnerations.

Click on the page links below for basic information about equine eye disorders for which referral to an ophthalmology specialist might be recommended.