My new rescue horse has aural plaques. They are not bad, yet, but I don't want them to get worse. Aural Plaques are the white, wart looking growths on the inside of horses ears. As many as 25% of the equine population has them. Although their exact cause is not known it is thought to be related to the papillomavirus which does cause warts and other growths. In the past and for most of my time at Vetlink I have always told those who asked there is no treatment for aural plaques, and in the past there wasn't. Now with new research from the University of Minnesota there is hope. They did a trial on aural plaques (and sarcoids) involving the human drug Aldara (Imiquimod 5% cream). The conclusion of the trial is it worked very well. Talking with my vet we decided to try it. You can read about the study here http://www.cvm.umn.edu/cic/completedstudies/lamedsurg/aldarardvm/home.html. Broadway can be a little touchy with her ears and she has a habit of pulling back. I was wondering the plaques could be the problem. I started the treatment today. My veterinarian's instructions are a little different than the protocol in the study but ultimatly you are treating the same number of time. My instructions were to apply the Aldara once weekly for four weeks. During the treatment the plaques will get worse before they get better as the medicine uses the body's own immune system to fight the virus. I will be documenting the results here for anyone who is also dealing with aural plaques.
Here is the before treatment pictures.
I am so glad this treatment is available. While I have never seen aural plaques before adopting this horse, I had heard awful stories about how hard bridling was and how the horses hated having their ears and even heads touched. Hopefully with such good results more people will use this treatment for happy horses. Unfortunatly Vetlink of Parker is not able to carry Aldara at this time so it is something you will have to talk with your vet about.
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