Island Veterinary Eye Specialist

03/27/2026

Easter Hours!

03/04/2026

Dr. Osinchuk will be offering OFA Eye Certification Exams in Nanaimo April 5th. Contact Julie Tonge for more details!

12/15/2025

🎄Reminder!! 🎄

We will be closed after 1pm on December 19th for the Holidays!
Come and get your prescription refills this week before we close!🎅🏻

12/01/2025

09/02/2025

📢🚨Spear grass alert! This perfect pup was having eye discharge for several weeks. His astute veterinarian was suspicious of something in his nasolacrimal duct and sent him to us for evaluation. He sat perfectly for Dr. Osinchuk to pull it out.

There are many causes of ocular discharge in dogs but unilateral cases in young adventurous dogs should make you suspicious of a foreign body.

05/22/2025

Dr. Osinchuk is attending an Intraocular Surgery Conference this week! It’s always inspiring to exchange knowledge with peers and stay at the forefront of advancements in cataract and glaucoma surgery.

Dr. Osinchuk is passionate about intraocular surgery and is dedicated to providing the very best for the pets of Vancouver Island

03/15/2025

Making an incision through the cornea and anterior lens capsule!
Cataract surgery is MICROSURGERY which requires the eye to be placed under an operating microscope to allow precision. This is a video of the corneal and lens incisions. They are made with a 2.7mm double sided surgical knife. The cornea is 0.6mm thick, and the posterior lens capsule is only HALF a red blood cell in thick. There is literally no room for error! Microsurgery requires years of training which is intensive and repetitive to develop high levels of microcontrol and dexterity.

03/08/2025

LENS INJECTION**
After the cataract is removed via phacoemulsification a lens implant is placed into the lens capsule. This is possible throught a small incision because the lens is folded into an injection system! The lens iis folded on its long axis in the injector. It is shaped like a bowtie with the arms extending out to the lens capsule equator to hold it in position. The center of the lens is called the optic and it is corrected to allow emmetropia or perfect visual acuity for the species. The refractive power of the lens is different between species:
Dogs: 42 diopters
Cats: 53 diopters
Rabbits: 58 diopters
Horses: 14-18 diopters
Birds: Bald eagle 16.4-17.4,
Canada lynx: 46 diopters
Black kite: 17.5 diopters

03/01/2025

Cataract surgery or Phacoemulsification is the standard of care for restoring vision in animals blinded by cataracts. It is completed through a 2.7 mm incision. The instrument uses ultrasound energy to break up the lens and a vacuum to suction the small fragments from the eye. The lens capsule is left in place and used to hold the new lens implant. The phacoemulsification machine and equipment are the same as used for cataract surgery in humans. Follow-up studies in cats and dogs undergoing cataract surgery report a 93% and 80% success rate respectively for return of and maintenance of vision.

02/22/2025

Intumescent cataracts occur in dogs with diabetes. Referral for these cataracts is URGENT especially if clients are interested in cataract surgery. The excessive levels of glucose cause shunting towards an alternative energy pathway increasing sorbitol in the lens. The sorbitol creates a strong osmotic gradient imbibing water into the lens. The expansion of the lens physically compresses the drainage angle, and causes lens capsule tears- which incite a severe phacoclastic uveitis (you can see keratic percipitates in the first photo). These sequellae can rapidly lead to glaucoma. Cataract surgery before the development of these sequellae is typically quite successful but if surgery is not completed in a timely fashion the success rate is less. For this reason we do not make diabetics with cataracts wait until the next available cataract surgery opening. They are done asap!