A dog acquires human look

Doctors attached human eye to a dog

A dog called Lucky was taken to veterinary hospital and diagnosed with glaucoma. "The eye is doomed," said the doctors to the dog's desperate owners. The owners were in a state of shock. They just could not imagine their beautiful American bulldog, "the cream of a breed," turning into an unsightly animal. Then somebody came up with an idea of inserting a human artificial eye into the dog's eye-socket.

According to the dog's owners, it has always been a pugnacious fellow. Its right eye was damaged in one of the fights. The owners apparently paid no attention to the injury. When they finally took the dog to hospital, it was far too late. The case of glaucoma was very much neglected.

Usually doctors cut out a disease-stricken eye and sew up an empty eye-socket. But the owners decided to put a prosthesis to the dog. No veterinarians perform such operations. That is why Lucky was operated by Vadim Nikolaenko, a "human" ophthalmologist and surgeon, a candidate of medical sciences. He is currently writing his doctoral thesis on the subject.

"The unique operation almost fell through," says Dr. Nikolaenko. As it turned out, no artificial eyes for animals were available. So the doctors had to place a special order with a prosthetic specialist manufacturing aids for humans. Still, the doctors could not find a glass eye to match the color of Lucky’s eye which is originally brown. The prosthetic device is green.

Lucky was banned from taking parts in the fights. Now it spends most if its time courting girlfriends. The owners say the dog has retained its charming looks and scored quite a lot in the games of romance. The dog will shortly have another operation, a cosmetic one this time. A new prosthesis of the right size and color will replace the current aid. The new artificial eye is already in the works.