Ophthalmology

Expert care for the eyes of all your pets

The Clinique Vétérinaire Universitaire de Liège offers a cross-disciplinary ophthalmology service, which means it can treat all animal species: dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, NACs, ruminants...

Thanks to its state-of-the-art facilities and diagnostic and surgical equipment, the ophthalmology team is able to offer a complete service to all your animals.

To examine your pet's eyes, veterinarians will use a slit lamp, ophthalmoscopes direct and indirect, a tonometer  (rebound or applanation), as well as other more advanced diagnostic techniques such as gonioscopy ,ultrasound andelectroretinography .

Services offered

The Ophthalmology Department deals with all your animals' eye diseases. Some diseases require surgical treatment. Your patient will therefore be cared for by the anesthesia department. Ophthalmologists will perform surgery using either magnifying operating glasses or an operating microscope. Some surgeries also require more specific equipment, such as a laser or a phacoemulsification device for glaucoma or cataract surgery respectively.

The ophthalmological examination can also be used to screen for hereditary defects  in dogs and cats, with a view to breeding your pet. It can also be carried out on horses during a purchase visit.

In addition to their clinical work, ophthalmologists are responsible for training students and future European specialists and veterinary colleagues (through conferences and the publication of scientific articles). For this reason, the clinic has very recently invested in an operating microscope equipped with screens and a second lens, and the consultation units are equipped with cameras.

The final aspect of our ophthalmology department's work is, of course, clinical research. This enables us to advance the knowledge and skills of ophthalmologists, and thus to improve the quality and level of care we can provide for our animals.

Service organization and appointment booking

Consultations are by appointment only, Monday to Friday:

Before the consultation, your pet will be taken in charge by a student and/or an intern and will be examined by a resident and/or a specialist. At the end of this examination, you will be given a diagnosis, the various treatment options and their prognosis. Except in exceptional cases (e.g. emergencies), your pet will not be operated on the same day as the consultation if surgical treatment is required.

An appointment will be proposed in the following days or weeks, and you will be given an estimate of the cost of treatment.

For pets and NACs:

To book an appointment, please contact the secretary's office on 04/ 366 42 00. A consultation lasts around 30 minutes, but may be longer if further tests are required (for example, if your pet's pupils need to be dilated).

For horses:

To make an appointment, please contact the secretary's office on 04/ 366 41 03. A consultation lasts around 60 minutes, but this may be extended if further examinations are required (e.g. if an ultrasound is needed).

Emergencies :

An on-call service has been set up to examine and treat urgent cases on evenings and weekends. Before coming to the Clinique Vétérinaire Universitaire, we invite you to contact the on-call service (small animals / horses) who will assess with you, over the phone, the seriousness of the signs you have observed and tell you when to come.

When you arrive, your pet will be taken care of by a final-year student and a resident who will assess your pet in order to start treatment to stabilize the eye. A specialist or resident will then assess your pet.

Please do not come without an appointment or without first contacting one of our clinic staff, even in an emergency. This is to ensure that we are available to see you as soon as you arrive.

Got questions? We may already have the answer here.

Commonly performed procedures

• Cataract surgery, using phacoemulsification with implantation of artificial lenses
• Lens extraction surgery for anterior dislocation
• Corneal surgery: corneal grafts, corneo-conjunctival grafts, synthetic or frozen corneal grafts, sutures for lacerations/perforations, keratectomies, keratotomies, thermokeratoplasties, etc
• Techniques for burying the accessory or nictitating lacrimal gland during dislocation and other third eyelid surgeries
• Placement of Cyclosporine A implants for the treatment of equine recurrent uveitis (suprachoroidal implants) or immune-mediated keratitis (subconjunctival implants)
• Eyelid surgery: removal of tumors (cryosurgery or surgery), repair of lacerations, correction of positional anomalies (entropion, ectropion, etc.), local chemotherapy of certain tumors
• Surgery for abnormally implanted eyelashes
• Periocular and palpebral reconstructive skin surgery (in cases of trauma, burns or removal of large tumors)
• Laser glaucoma surgery (transcleral cyclophotocoagulation)
• Enucleation with or without intraorbital prosthesis or intrascleral prosthesis
• Transposition of Sténon's canal for treatment of tear insufficiency
• Surgery of the lacrimal excretory apparatus
• Intrarocular fluid sampling (aqueous and vitreous humor) for diagnostic purposes

Our team

Clinician