Success Story (pictures are a bit graphic-not for weak stomachs!)

Back in late March, I was on my way to work when I recieved a call from our barn manager. When she calls me at 7:30am, I know it probably isn't good news. She said not to freak out (yeah right, heart is already pounding), but Whiskey had a pretty bad wound on her face and that is probably ocurred late that night or early in the morning.

She said it wasn't an emergency but I needed to call a vet out as soon as I could. 40min later I am at the barn and my heart falls into my stomach. My beautiful mare has a deep gash that's about 3 1/2 inches long and grotesquely swollen. She's munching away at her hay cubes and looks up and nickers at me like nothing is wrong with her pretty face.

Shortly after seeing this the vet arrives. We pull her into the washrack and he's poking it and giving her shots and using a low UV light to help speed up cell recovery. He didn't sew it up just in case a bone got chipped. If that happened and he did sew it up, infection would set in and cause even more problems.

After 2 trips down there daily (for 2 weeks-then once a day for a month) to administer bute, betadine flushes and antibiotics, the wound healed up (which meant no broken bones!) But now my fear was "Will there be a forever hole there? Will it be bald? Will white hair grow back instead of brown?"

Well, here are the pictures... you can see for yourself!

Day 1


Day 4


Day 6



Day 8



Day 9


Day 11


Day 14


I don't have any now pictures (like I thought I did) but the wound healed up completely and you can barely see a scar. Hair grew back over it, DARK HAIR!!!! Haha no white on her face!

Wow, nasty wound! Glad it healed up!

Wow! That is great it healed up so well!! What did you use on her face? My new born filly got a rope burn today by stepping over her mother's lead rope and getting tangled in it before I could untie it. :'( It isn't too bad, mainly just pulled the hair off... I really don 't want it to scar...so if you'd let me know i'd love that!! Thanks! :)

Wow...
That does look pretty good. I think that as far as the hair coming back white you just never know!
In having a wound of that fashion I thnk the key is to have as much good ceel and tissue growth occur as you can possibly get. It looks as though you have a good handle on it..
I am not a vet and have not dealt with a would of that nature in that area. What does your vet say about the horse having an indentation left over there? I know that some wounds do build up enough tissue to cover and fill in a wound, but part of a wound healing and not having to much a lump is to at a certain point massage the effected area to sort of smooth out the lumps. Being that you are concerned of a whole or indentation being left there I thnik If I were in your shoes I would do two things...A.) see what my vet thinks about all those questions you asked and then ask how you can try to manage to get the cells and new tissue to fill in the affected area... and then as how to do some type of scar therapy. I have a lot of experience with Human scar therapy but not with horses and especially one on the face of a horse. Being that humans do not have fur or hair I am not sure how you would get the tissues to smooth out without loosing some of the hair.
I am always the one hwo will ask a bucnh of questions to many many people and vets and other just to gather up info.
I wish you all the best and so far that looks pretty good and as if it is also filling in well...
Thank goodness for no broken bones...
Half Pass...

How did that happen?

Poor girl, that looks like a pretty bad wound just by the pictures. I am very glad she healed up though!

Yucky owie.... I'm glad she's doing well... did it effect the sinuses? Ouchie baby!

Good thing it wasn't closer to the eye or the eye itself. Where my Aunt boards a horse lost an eye to a similar wound.
Glad she's healing well.

Poor girl! I'm glad it healed up well! Would love to see the end result.

Was that a recent injury? What does it look like now? What have you been putting on it?