MEIBOMIAN GLAND ADENOMA

Many dogs will have little lumps form along the eyelid margin as they age. The most common of these eyelid lumps is called a meibomian gland adenoma. The meibomian glands are tiny glands within the eyelid that have openings along the edge of the eyelid near the eyelashes. These glands produce the thick mucoid part of the tears. An adenoma is a benign type of cancer, this means that it is very slow to grow and unlikely to spread to other parts of the body.

These little tumours do not often cause problems and usually we will suggest you monitor them over time. However, sometimes they grow and rub on the surface of the eye and this annoys the dog. The dog may then start rubbing at the eye and cause it to bleed or even damage the eyeball and cause an ulcer. When this occurs we will recommend removing the growth.

Surgery involves removing a small wedge of eyelid that contains the lump. This then needs to be reconstructed to be a functional eyelid. We close the inside layer of conjunctiva then the outer layer of skin with very fine suture material and as such this is delicate work and time consuming. As the suture material is very fine, it is easily broken if your dog rubs at their face so we will almost always fit an elizabethan collar to prevent this.

As many of these lumps are benign, removal should be curative. If your dog is one of the very unlucky ones that has a malignant type of this growth, spreading to other parts of the body is unusual. If you have any further questions regarding your pets lump or are worried that it may be getting worse, please contact the clinic on 53811996.