Clinical Equine Ophthalmology Practice Test

Posterior segment disease involves the retina, vitreous, or choroid, so the strongest clues come from what you can find in the back of the eye. If you perform a fundus exam and see abnormalities such as vitreous haze, retinal detachment, or choroidal lesions, that directly indicates the posterior structures are affected and likely responsible for vision loss. If the media is opaque and you can’t visualize the retina, that obscures the posterior segment, which itself can be a sign that a posterior pathology (like vitreous opacity from inflammation or hemorrhage) is present and contributing to vision loss. By contrast, a normal fundus with clear media points away from the posterior segment, and findings limited to the front of the eye (conjunctival redness or mild eyelid swelling) don’t indicate posterior involvement.