Unusual Cat's Eye Problem - Immune Related

[malamart]

My cat has an eye problem that the pet opthamologist here in Tampa, Florida, has never seen before, but has heard of.  It appears to be immune related - the muscles behind my cat's eyes appear to have been attacked by his immune system and no longer function.  Both of his eyes look straight ahead - cannot move up, down, or to either side, and his "third eylid" does not close over his eyes so his tears do not spread over his eyes and keep them moist. When my cat's eyelids close, air gets to a horizontal sliver of his eye where the eyelids meet, and a dry lesion has appeared on one eye which has developed into a keloid scar horizontally across that eye, from blood vessels attempting to heal that dried part of the eye. We must constantly keep both eyes moist with eye drops and special salve to keep them from getting worse.  He has been placed on prednisone, and periodically I place antibiodic eye drops in his eyes to ensure there is no infection.  I'm hoping to find someone that may have treated this before with good results, as I am afraid that whatever attacked his eye muscles may also attack the optic nerves, and I don't want this problem to progress.  Have you heard of this problem before and, possibly, whether anyone has had any success at all in treating or somewhat reversing the current damage a bit so that some movement would return?  He's only about 10 years old, and I'm quite worred. Thank you for any suggestions or help.
  

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M.]

I will have to research this problem amongst my colleagues since I am not familiar with this particular problem.  Could you please give us more information?  Could you please list the ophthalmologist medical notes, if available?  Could you also please list the name of the immune disease that afflicts your cat:  is it idiopathic, feline leukemia, feline aids, or just unknown.  Thanks!

[malamart]

Immune disease unknown - he has had all his shots on time since he was a kitten, so I would not expect him to have any aids or leukemia and no actual immune disease has been diagnosed by his regular vet, however many years ago as a kitten he had some kind of disorder for at least a year that my vet had never seen where my cat's foot pads completely dried out, turned white and hard, and cracked. An antibiotic that was given for a short period caused a slow reversal of the foot pad dryness and his foot pads returned to a healthy pink color after several months.

6/13/08 Notes from E. Dan Wolf DVM, ACVO, 813-881-9799: Both eyes inadequate blinking, inadequate eye movement resulting in exposure ulcer in L cornea - healing w/blood vessels. Problem - inflamation behind the eye affecting muscle and/or fat tissue - resulting in scar tissue inhibiting muscle movement (Protect by lubricating/moistening cornea w/ Hypotears, Tears Again Gel, Puralube, & Tobramycin Solution .3% - reduce inflamation w/oral prednisone 10 mg daily - monitor side effects).

6/27/08 Notes: No change.  Both eyes show linear area of exposure L worse - related to inadequate tear coverage due to lack of movement of the eye & 3rd eyelid. (Continue to use pred 10 mg daily in hopes of delaying the progression of problem - will not be able to reverse.) Continue tears/gel & paralube as often as possible, manipulating lids to spread oil over the cornea.  Use Tobramycin Solution first 5 days of each month.

Thank you for anything you can find on this.  I am hoping to keep him from going blind or getting worse!