Panorama Animal Eye Hospital

Welcome to the Panorama Animal Eye Hospital (JAEH and CAEH) - a referral veterinary practice dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of animal eye disease. The practice was founded in 1996 by registered veterinary ophthalmologists Drs Goodhead and Venter. In 2008, Dr Lo-An Odayar joined the JAEH and is now only seen on special occasions. Since then Dr Christie Boucher joined the team in 2016.

Our Gauteng hospital is situated in Fourways, Johannesburg and our Western Cape hospital is in Panorama, Cape Town. We also consult from the Faculty of Veterinary Science at Onderstepoort, near Pretoria. We are actively involved with the university lecturing both pre- and postgraduate veterinary students. In addition to consulting in Johannesburg and Pretoria, we hold referral clinics approximately every 3 months in Durban. We have also performed surgeries in Southern African countries such as Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. We make regular consulting and surgery trips in The United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Services offered at Panorama Animal Eye Hospital

Eye examination
Specialised equipment is used to examine your animal’s eyes. The front of the eye is examined with a slitlamp biomicroscope. This instrument provides a very good light source as well as good magnification. The retina and optic disk are examined with both direct and indirect ophthalmoscopes. Other diagnostic procedures include tonometry to determine the pressure in the eye; gonioscopy to examine the drainage angle of the eye; cytology to examine conjunctival and corneal cells; Schirmer tear test to measure the tear production; and ophthalmic dyes to assess corneal integrity.

Ultrasonography enables the examiner to visualize structures both within and behind the eye. This is particularly important in ocular conditions that make ophthalmoscopic examination difficult and in cases where there is pathology behind the eye.

Electroretinography (ERG) allows one to measure the electrical activity within the retina and thereby assess it’s functional integrity. This procedure is performed on all our cataract patients to ensure normal retinal function before cataract surgery.

 
South African Veterinary Association (SAVA) Eye Certification Scheme
We are affiliated to the SAVA eye certification scheme. It is highly recommended that animals used for breeding be examined for hereditary eye diseases. Such tests assist in reducing the incidence of hereditary conditions which could lead to visual problems.
Renewal of drug prescriptions
If your pet requires chronic medication and you need a prescription renewal we encourage you to call the reception staff first to order the medications and it will be ready for you to collect.

Please be aware that according to the Veterinary and Para-veterinary Professions Act No 19 of 1982 we are legally only able to re-dispense medications for a maximum of 6 months after which time the patient must be re-examined (consultation by appointment) in order for us to renew the prescription for a further 6 months.
Horses and game animals
For the examination and admission of horses in Gauteng we make use of a number of equine practices in the Kyalami / Midrand area. All general anaesthetic procedures performed at these facilities are under the strict supervision of equine veterinarians.  Equine consultations and surgical admissions are also done at our branch clinic at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Onderstepoort, near Pretoria. We are also frequently called upon to do private equine and game consultations. For the Western Cape region, we have similar arrangements with selected equine hospitals.
Surgery
Our theatre is well equipped with state of the art ophthalmic equipment including an operating microscope, phacoemulsification unit, electroepilator, blood pressure monitoring devices and specialised surgical instruments. We make use of very safe intravenous and Sevoflurane gaseous anaesthetic agents. All anaesthesia is monitored using specialised monitoring equipment. We also have portable phacoemulsification cataract extraction equipment as well as a portable operating microscope which enables us to perform cataract surgery and other microsurgery at remote locations. This includes surgery on horses and a wide variety of large game species including rhino, primates etc.