Nathan Zauel, DVM
Nathan Zauel DVM is a solo ambulatory practitioner in Ann Arbor, which means he travels to the site to examine, diagnose and treat horses. He has been practicing as a large animal vet since 1993. A graduate of MSU College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Zaul is on the Alumnae Advisory Council at MSU College of Vet Medicine. He is also an Adjunct Faculty member, instructing students in the field and lecturing on equine medicine basics. Dr. Zauel is a general practitioner but also does a lot of reproductive work such as artificial insemination. His office is in Ann Arbor 734-994-7899.
FIND OASIS in new site
Great Lakes Horse Sports, Michigan Horse Sports:
Stitches in Pictures
The mare's eyelid is almost ripped off! Dr. Nathan Zauel responds to the emergency call!
text and photos by Tania Evans
Dr. Zauel responded to an emergency call for help for a horse that had sliced it’s eyelid nearly in half. The cut was bleeding into the eye and down the face. Dr. Zauel arrived at the Ann Arbor farm about 30 minutes after he received the call. The horse, called Havia, was in its stall, standing quietly. While there was blood on its leg from rubbing the eye, the mare had not rubbed dirt into the wound.. It appeared that the cut had occurred just before it was discovered by the owner. Havia, 12, a preliminary level eventer, would need her eyesight to continue to event.
I'm examining the left eye to see what's involved. This photo show the extent of the laceration to the upper eyelid. It’s a full thickness laceration of the upper eyelid. You can see the eyeball underneath the slice. It is very recent.
A thorough examination of the wound is required but the mare is not very cooperative. Physical restraint is required so we put on a twitch. I gave a local anesthetic to block the nerve but the horse continues to jerk away suddenly whenever I put my hand near her eyelid.
The area requires sutures and I will have to work close to the eye. The decision was made to lay her on the ground. I gave her an injectible general anesthesia.
I had to guide her to the ground. The risk of allowing her to collapse on her own is that she contaminates the wound by driving her head into the dirt if she falls the wrong way.
Once she’s on the ground and quiet I can get in for a close look. I can clean the eye and stain the eye for corneal damage from whatever it was that cut the eyelid. The stain shows there’s no evidence of Corneal damage.
I begin to stitch up the eyelid. It’s a clean cut. It’s important to trim the edges of the nylon sutures very short so that the tags don’t poke the eyeball.
I used a simple, interrupted pattern. The wound was a clean slice. There’s not a lot of tension here so the simple, interrupted pattern was chosen.
After stitching, I clean up the area to get all the dried blood off in order to prevent irritation.
I put ontment into the eye to guard against infection from the inflammation. It’s a triple antiobiotic opthalmic ointment. The general anesthetic lasted about 30 minutes which was sufficient time to close and clean the wound.
Then we waited. Her friend Spike waited, too ---.
Then I helped the mare back up to avoid her falling and contaminating the wound. 
She needed help to brace against something solid such as me. She was very wobbly.
I am just talking to her here, making sure she’s ready to stand on her own and recover on her own in the pasture.
Autho and Photographerr: Tania Evans
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