Click here for a downloadable pdf of this article.

A 2-year-old, female Louisiana Catahoula leopard dog mix was referred to us for evaluation of swelling of the medial canthus (inner corner) of the left eye (FIGURE 1) . The swelling had recently become firm but had been present when the patient lived in California a few months before. The owner wondered if the swelling could be due to a sand granule under the skin.

Our ophthalmologist diagnosed the swelling as a cyst, and a contrast radiography study confirmed that it did not communicate with the nasolacrimal duct system (FIGURE 2) . We drained the swelling, but when it returned within a week, surgery was performed to remove the entire cyst pocket.

Within the pocket were several granules (FIGURE 3) that we could not identify, so a biopsy was ordered. The laboratory found cholesterol deposits within the cyst—possibly a reaction to a foreign body. The owner’s sand granule theory may have been correct after all! The patient recovered uneventfully and has not developed any more swellings.