A pointer dog wears a Top Gun-style visor after vets performed “miracle” surgery to remove a thorn which was lodged in her eyeball.
Dog owner Andrea Bishop noticed her beloved pooch Kona had become withdrawn and appeared in pain after her morning walk.
She took the four-year-old pooch to a vet who carried out an ultrasound scan on her right eye which revealed a thorn was embedded in her cornea.
Andrea rushed Kona 80 miles to Veterinary Vision in Penrith, Cumbria, where vets carried out a risky procedure to remove the thorn and save her sight.
Kona’s damaged eye was also grafted and the poorly pooch was forced to wear doggy-glasses for weeks following the procedure.
Just weeks after the freak accident, Kona has made a full recovery and is back home with Andrea.
Andrea, 43, from Houghton-Le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, said: “I know everyone who has dogs loves them as part of the family, but Kona and I have a very special bond.
“I got Kona four years ago, after I lost my partner at the age of 39 to suicide.
“She instantly became my whole world, my shadow and my best friend.
“She is a very special dog and I love her more than I could ever put into words, so I will be forever grateful for the care and attention she received from Chris and the Vet Vision team.
“It was a very worrying time as I had been prepared for the fact that there was a high chance she could lose her eye, as it was a very delicate and complicated operation.
“Not only did Kona keep her eye but her vision doesn’t appear to be impaired at all, which is nothing short of a miracle.
“To watch her run around again like a big puppy, you would never have known what she’d been through just a few days beforehand.
“Without them I have no doubt she would have lost her eye which would have been devastating.”
Eye expert Chris Dixon carried out the complicated surgery on Kona last month.
He said: “Kona had presented with a painful, cloudy right eye four days after suffering an injury during a walk.
“She was diagnosed with a penetrating injury, but we were unable to immediately visualise a foreign body due to a dense build-up of fluid which had caused swelling of the cornea.
“It was only when we conducted a high-frequency ocular ultrasound scan that we could identify a foreign body embedded within the lateral iridocorneal angle.
“The removal of a large foreign body embedded in the deep tissues of the eye for four days posed a significant surgical challenge due to the lack of visibility.
“We used a 19G high-definition video micro-endoscope to directly examine the internal structures of the anterior chamber and confirm the ultrasonographic findings.
“The fragment of stick was carefully removed with instruments that are more commonly used in retinal reattachment surgery, and the cornea was repaired with a transposition graft.
“Kona is extremely fortunate to have avoided infection of the intraocular tissues and the whole Veterinary Vision team is thrilled that she has made a complete recovery.”
