부산대학교 도서관

Distichiasis is one of the diseases commonly encountered in companion animals, and these abnormal eyelashes cause corneal ulcers, continuous eye irritation, eye pain, glare, epiphora, foreign body sensation and can cause corneal opacity and vision loss in severe cases. In this study, an eyelash epilation needle for animals was developed and applied to a real case, and the results were observed. In a case of corneal ulcer caused by distichiasis of a 2-year-old Shih Tzu, a high-frequency surgical instrument for animals was converted into an electric epilation needle to attempt a procedure to destroy the eyelash hair follicles on the upper eyelid. A epilation needle was developed to have a diameter of 0.1 mm and a length of 4 mm at the end of the handle of DOCTANZ 400, an electrosurgical instrument for animals only. In the procedure, 2~3 mm of an epilation needle was inserted into the hair follicle, and 1 watt of electric power was applied to the hair follicle for about 5 sec. to carry out electrolysis until white bubbles were generated around the meibomian glands thereby destroying the hair follicle. As a result, no eyelashes grew any longer in the treated area indicating that the treatment was successful. It is hoped that the method developed in this study will be applied so that it will be widely used as a treatment method for distichiasis in companion animals that can be frequently seen hereafter.