by Dr. Stephany Lewis, DVM, Veterinarian

This summer, CWC’s marine mammal team received several California sea lions with eye trauma, a common injury, and it is not uncommon for us to treat several pinnipeds with corneal ulcers and other corneal injuries. Therapy includes topical antibiotics (applied directly to the eye) and, occasionally, oral antibiotics and analgesics.

As you might imagine, our pinniped patients get large and “ornery” rather quickly, so applying topical medications to their eyes every day, multiple times per day, becomes quite challenging! To help alleviate our patients’ stress (and the stress of our marine mammal staff and volunteers!) we decided to try a novel treatment technique, first used with pinnipeds by the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, CA, which involves injecting an antibiotic-impregnated gel into the conjunctiva (tissue around the eye).

 

To implement this technique, we sedated our patients using a combination of injectable sedatives and an inhalant anesthetic. Then we injected a small amount of a thermodynamic antibiotic-impregnated poloxamer gel into the animal’s conjunctiva—and it’s not an easy procedure: the conjunctiva is very thin and very close to the eyeball! The refrigerated injectable is a liquid; it gels once it reaches body temperature.

Over the following couple of weeks, the gel slowly releases the antibiotics onto the animal’s cornea, serving the same function as a daily application of topical antibiotics. Results were promising on all four animals treated, and we will likely apply this technique again in subsequent seasons.