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College of Veterinary Medicine

Hans Westermeyer

HW
Hans Westermeyer

Assoc Professor

Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists

CVM Main Building B339

Bio

Dr. Westermeyer joined the NC State Veterinary Medicine team on January 20, 2015 as an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology. He grew up in Chile, South America. After obtaining his Veterinary Degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia, he completed a rotating internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the University of Tennessee.

Following a research fellowship at the University of California, Davis, he returned to the University of Tennessee to complete his residency training in Comparative Ophthalmology. Immediately after completing his residency, Dr. Westermeyer moved to Hong Kong for four years and worked in private practice. His research interest is in modulation of scarring after glaucoma valve surgery.

Area(s) of Expertise

PHARMACOLOGY
Modulation of fibrosis after glaucoma valve surgery, corneal reconstruction using novel materials

Publications

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Grants

Date: 04/01/21 - 9/30/24
Amount: $5,000.00
Funding Agencies: ACVO Vision for Animals Foundation

To use quantitative sensory testing (QST) to compare pain in dogs with chronic glaucoma following pharmacologic ciliary body ablation (CBA) and enucleation

Date: 12/27/17 - 1/31/24
Amount: $29,974.00
Funding Agencies: ACVO Vision for Animals Foundation

Primary angle closure glaucoma is a common disease in dogs, affecting approximately 1% of the population. Currently, even though there are multiple medical and surgical tools to treat glaucoma in dogs, the disease still results in permanent blindness in all dogs. This is due, in part, to the unpredictability and severity of the pressure spikes associated with this disease. Due to defects in the drainage apparatus of the eye, these spikes are often so severe that once they occur, they result in permanent, irreversible damage to vision in a matter of hours. At this point, medical and surgical options can decrease intraocular pressure, but will not reverse vision loss. If the timing of the spikes in intraocular pressure could be predicted, then the medical and surgical tools available could be implemented before these spikes occur, dramatically increasing the time dogs remain with vision. We believe there are measureable changes in the structure of the drainage apparatus of the eye preceding an intraocular pressure spike and retinal damage. And these changes progress in a predictable and sequential manner, allowing for the approximate time until an intraocular pressure spike occurs to be determined. We will perform serial, detailed measurements of the drainage apparatus of the eye and correlate changes in these measurements to the time until a pressure spike occurs or retinal damage is detected. We will also quantitatively evaluate the pupillary reflex to show it can be used as a sensitive indicator of the retinal damage caused by glaucoma.


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Groups