1481. Cancerous ear tumour spreading to the face - facial nerve injury

In this surgery, the facial nerve may be cut as the tumour from the ear canal or a separate tumour had spread to the face, near the right eye (see lowermost arrow). The dog cannot close his right eye when he sleeps and the owner has to apply eye drops 3x/day to prevent eye drying. There is no way to avoid the facial nerve as the facial tumour is on top of this nerve.

No histopathology was done to lower medical costs but I believe the tumours to be cancerous as they exploded in size and grew very fast in the last 2 months.

IMAGE OF POST-OPERATION EAR



The facial tumour had been excised. Its size was more than a 50-cent coin, more than 4 cm x 6 cm. The skin had been closed over the big hole. The ear canal had been opened up on the side, showing the horizontal canal opening. The whole ear tumour could not be removed 100% but at least, there is ventilation for the horizontal canal which had trapped pus and blood for many months as the ear canal tumour expanded and hardened to obliterate the space and stop ventilation.

As at Jan 26, 2013, 3rd day after the surgery, the owner reported that the dog started eating on her own and the operation area was "smelly." and bleeding.  I advised her to use syringe + warm water + antiseptic to irrigate the ear wound rather than swabbing it.   

I hope this op gives the dog relief from intense pain.