Be Kind To Pets, Vet case studies, Photography tips, Travel Stories: 3383. CHLOE. A Golden Retriever had a large facial lump. What to do? Plastic surgery technique.

Some copyright-free soothing music.

Skin tumours may be present when we age. Facial tumours can cause a loss of self esteem in a career lady. After all, first impressions count. One of my clients used to be very particular about her appearance and would have regular beautician appointments when she climbed the corporate ladder and managed 200 staff.

When I met her in 2020, she had retired for some years, I noted that she had a small skin lump below the left eye canthus.

Can you see the small facial lump below the left eye canthus?

Early removal by a plastic surgeon as it may become a bigger hard "cholesterol" lump.
In real life, first impressions do count.

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This retiree reminded me of a Golden Retriever with a facial tumour further below her

left eye canthus.

This is a

BE KIND TO PETS VETERINARY EDUCATIONAL VIDEO.........(see image below)

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(INTRODUCTION)

In 2005, I was a dog breeder veterinarian for the major dog breeding farms in Pasir Ris and Seletar in Singapore. (SHOW FOOTAGE OF THE BOARDING KENNEL) AT:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb3xsEiVik8

Show footage of one breeding kennel in Singapore
0:29 - 1:07 and 2:04 – 2:36

I saw this female 4-year-old Golden Retriever with a large facial tumour lying quietly in her kennel.

The dog's facial tumour was large. It was 6 cm across.

1. The face had little skin for me to stitch up after excision of the tumour.

2. Complete excision was best as this tumour could be cancerous or pre-cancerous. I would have to cut a large area. I need to have a margin of 5 mm to 10 mm around the tumour to exclude any 'cancerous cells' present in the margins.

(ILLUSTRATION by hand).

3. The cranial nerves must not be severed, otherwise the dog's eyelids and face will be paralysed.

(ILLUSTRATION by hand --- ANATOMY OF FACIAL NERVES).

The surgical procedure is known as plastic surgery. The skin from a nearby area is used to close the big facial wound. It is known as Y-plasty in this case as the stitched up wound looks like a "Y".

I put the dog under general isoflurane anaesthesia. I used an ink marker to map out the areas where I would take the surrounding skin to cover the large defect after complete excision of the tumour.

See the "Y" stitching pattern?

Y-PLASTY

OUTCOME

A histopathology of the tumour was not performed to reduce medical costs for the breeder.

The Golden Retriever recovered and did not have any recurrence of the tumour. She eyed me suspiciously whenever I passed her by kennel several weeks later. She has an elephant memory and considered me as her nemesis!

As for the retiree lady, her small facial tumour had grown a bit more, but being "old", she couldn't care two hoots about first impressions!

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