Laser Surgery For Corns

[winnie]

Our 5 y/o grey girl Celeste appears to have a corn on her back left paw. She walks fine on soft surfaces, but limps on hard surfaces. We spoke to our vet about options. She suggested laser surgery. She said they've done it on a couple of greyhounds and the corns haven't returned. So, we scheduled Celeste's surgery for January 19.

 

Has anyone else had laser corn removal? Any thoughts?

[Guest MnMDogs]

I know Batmom has a lot of experience with laser usage after hulling. We just had Mork's hulled with the root elevator and the holes lasered right after. The vet wasn't very familiar with the laser, so she said she was pretty conservative. However, he seems to be walking a bit better. Especially on the back right which was just horrible. So bad I was convinced he must have had cancer since it he didn't even put weight on that foot, and the corn appeared so much more benign than his other three.

 

But he is slightly better, and I'm hoping this gives him a few more months corn free.

 

My only concern with the laser be used to surgically remove them is that all the hounds I've known who have had the surgery (not with laser, and I'm not sure how laser and traditional surgical removal would differ) have had them back within months, and it's a fairly long recovery time. Can you try the hulling then touch with the laser? Again, I think Batmom will probably have much better advice!

 

Man I hate corns.

Edited December 24, 2008 by MnMDogs

[Batmom]

Not really huge amounts of experience, just with my Zema . For @ a year, my vet hulled her corn every 3-4 weeks using the procedure described here: http://www.grassmere-animal-hospital.com/corn_hulling.htm . Easy peasy, takes 2 minutes, no anaesthesia necessary, no blood (well, maybe one pinpoint drop), no gore.

 

She always got immediate relief, except for the second-to-last time we hulled it. No relief. So, when she was under general anaesthesia for another procedure shortly after that, vet hulled it again. Then he "just kissed" the hulled surface with his surgical laser. Didn't go deep, didn't remove extra tissue, just sorta cauterized it.

 

And Zema had complete relief and no more corn for 9 MONTHS! At the 9-month point, she developed a small corn on the same toe and a small corn on the toe next door. We hulled those. That was @ a year ago? And no more corns since.

 

The first time we hulled her corn, vet also trimmed a lot of thick, hard callus that had built up around the perimeter of the corn. I'm betting that callus was as uncomfy to walk on as the corn itself. There was maybe a pinprick or two of blood from trimming the callus but apart from wearing a sock for a day or two, she was good to go.

 

Dunno if that will help you or your vet any.

[tbhounds]

The corns are removed using a Co2 laser (there's few kinds out there). The wonderful thing about using the laser in there is NO blood during the surgery allowing the Dr to visualize everything making sure they get out the whole corn. I have seen a corn that was so deep it went completely down to the flexer tendon--never could that be performed using a scalpel blade. The laser is so clean that the tendon was not damaged and the corn was removed safely--it did not return. The toe was not sutured-instead it was packed with antibiotics ointment and the foot was wrapped. The dog went home on NSAID's and was weight bearing the next day.

Even thou the laser is a wonderful tool it needs to be used by a Dr familiar with it. I would suggest finding a Dr that has been using the laser in their practice for a while. Don't be afraid to ask how long they have the laser and how many and which types of surgery's have they performed with it.

Corns are the pits!

[Guest MnMDogs]

The corns are removed using a Co2 laser (there's few kinds out there). The wonderful thing about using the laser in there is NO blood during the surgery allowing the Dr to visualize everything making sure they get out the whole corn. I have seen a corn that was so deep it went completely down to the flexer tendon--never could that be performed using a scalpel blade. The laser is so clean that the tendon was not damaged and the corn was removed safely--it did not return. The toe was not sutured-instead it was packed with antibiotics ointment and the foot was wrapped. The dog went home on NSAID's and was weight bearing the next day.

Even thou the laser is a wonderful tool it needs to be used by a Dr familiar with it. I would suggest finding a Dr that has been using the laser in their practice for a while. Don't be afraid to ask how long they have the laser and how many and which types of surgery's have they performed with it.

Corns are the pits!

 

Wow, that is really good to know! Thank you. Mork had the corn removal with conventional surgery, and it really was awful. Not to mention that they were back in less than a year, then managed to double from 2 to 4...

 

[inugrey]

tbhounds, can you elaborate on this? I don't even know where to begin except to say I'm very interested. How does one go about finding a vet experienced with this laser? Start with A in the yellow pages under vet or go straight to the vet schools?

[winnie]

Even thou the laser is a wonderful tool it needs to be used by a Dr familiar with it. I would suggest finding a Dr that has been using the laser in their practice for a while. Don't be afraid to ask how long they have the laser and how many and which types of surgery's have they performed with it.

 

Well, my vet was the one that suggested it. I don't know how long they've been using the laser at the vet practice. My vet did say that she's done a couple of corn removals on greyhounds with excellent results. The surgery is scheduled for January 19th (our vet only does surgeries on Mondays - DH and I are both off on the 19th), so we still have time to check into this further.

 

[tbhounds]

tbhounds, can you elaborate on this? I don't even know where to begin except to say I'm very interested. How does one go about finding a vet experienced with this laser? Start with A in the yellow pages under vet or go straight to the vet schools?

Don't really know how you can find a Doc with a laser in the practice (I'll check it out). How far are you from Maryland? I believe that's were Dr Peter Eeg is practicing--the man seems to have been born with a laser in his hand!

 

update--His practice is Poolesville Veterinary Clinic, Poolesville Maryland. I do know that he belongs to the Veterinary Surgical Laser Society (might be the founder). I'm sure that if he's too far from you he would gladly give you a referal to another practice. Hope this helps!

Edited December 24, 2008 by tbhounds

[tbhounds]

tbhounds, can you elaborate on this? I don't even know where to begin except to say I'm very interested. How does one go about finding a vet experienced with this laser? Start with A in the yellow pages under vet or go straight to the vet schools?

 

Bumping for inugrey

[inugrey]

fantastic timing on this bump! Just made it back to GT since the 23rd! I can do Poolesville. I'll give them a call to chat about this thanks!