Spot, an 11 month old female entire Bulldog was presented to us
with a mass in the eye. The red swelling had appeared suddenly,
and was causing no real discomfort to the dog. Upon presentation
the mass was easily diagnosed as a prolapsed gland of the third
eyelid, or "cherry eye". Cherry eye is common in brachycephalic
dogs (those with short snouts.) The third eyelid comes from the
inner side of the eye and moves accross the eye as the animal
blinks. It contains a lacrimal gland, which produces tears. In
normal dogs, the gland is attached firmly to the base of the
third eyelid, but in a lot of short-nosed dogs, in particular
bulldogs, the attachment is loose and allows the gland to pop
up. Whilst not immediately much of a problem, chronic cherry
eyes leads to a 42% chance of reduction in tear production,
therefore leading to a dry eye, which causes inflammation,
infection and eventually can lead to blindness. To help avoid
this, the recommended procedure is to surgically replace the
cherry eye into the third